The European People’s Party (EPP) stated this Monday that the presidency of the European Councilto which the social democrats fully aspire at the community summit this Mondayis divided into two mandates of two and a half years and one of said parts is assumed by a popular representative, sources from the PPE have told EFE.

These sources indicated that this is not a red line for their party, represented in the negotiations by the Greek prime minister.Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and the polish, Donald Tuskbut rather it has been proposed to divide this five-year mandate as is traditionally done in the European Parliament.

In the treaties, the mandate of the president of the European Council It already has a duration of two and a half years, extendable once.but, in practice, the three presidents that the institution has had have directed it during five years of European legislature each: this was the case of Herman van Rompuy, Donald Tusk and Charles Michel.

Four charges at stake

The presidency of the European Parliament, on the other hand, is usually divided into two halves and generally one is held by the Popular Party and the other by the Social Democrats. The presidency of the European Council is one of the four positions at stake in the first informal summit of leaders after the European elections, together with the European Commission, the high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy; and the presidency of the European Parliament.

The shortlist of names that is being debated would place the German Ursula von der Leyen to preside over the European Commission, the Estonian Kaja Kallas as high representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs, the Portuguese António Costa as president of the European Council already a popular in the first half of the presidency of the European Parliament, where the chosen one would be the Maltese Roberta Metsola.

However, any change in this list of names could bring down the rest, since those selected have to meet a balance of gender, political color and geographical origin. Negotiating alongside Mitsotakis and Tusk are the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, the acting Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander de Croo, and Kallas herself.

In negotiation phase

Sources from the Spanish delegation indicated that they will have to assess what they can give them in exchange for that half of the presidency of the European Council and warned of that it will not be possible to reach an agreement if what they are offered is “incompatible”. The negotiation, they stressed, is a “starting point” because the leaders still have a formal summit in the next few years. days 27 and 28, so now “everyone is raising the price of the negotiation”, including the socialists themselves.

However, he described as “unfair” the idea that the European People’s Party is underrepresented based solely on the recent appointment of the socialist Nadia Calviño at the head of the European Investment Bank and what is yet to come NATO Secretary Generalfor which the favorite is the liberal Mark Rutte.

On the other hand, this source recalled that the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund are directed by women from the EPP. The negotiators of the three pro-European political families majority started at the last minute in the afternoon a three-way meeting after several two-way meetings. Once Von der Leyen and Metsola participate in the summit, the leaders will meet alone, without advisors or phones.