2024-06-27 14:36 update: 2024-06-28, 11:34
Photo PAP/EPA/OLIVIER MATTHYS
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's approval of candidates for top EU posts, who have been preliminarily agreed upon by six EU leaders, is of vital importance, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said.
Tusk is attending an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, where EU leaders are expected to endorse the new candidates for top European posts.
On Tuesday, six European leaders representing the biggest groupings in the new European Parliament (EP), including Tusk, negotiated the appointments following the European elections held earlier this month.
"We have completed our negotiations within this political platform," Tusk said. "This was only to facilitate the process. The decision belongs to Ms Meloni and other leaders during the EU summit.
"The only intention and the only reason why we prepared a joint stance is to speed up the process," Tusk continued. "There is no Europe without Italy and there is no decision without Prime Minister Meloni. It's obvious."
According to the agreement reached on Tuesday, Ursula von der Leyen will continue in her role as the European Commission president, while Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa is to be appointed president of the European Council. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas is to become the EU's new foreign policy chief.
Meloni, a right-wing politician who is in the minority in the EP, has expressed a negative opinion about the proposed appointments. (PAP)
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