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EU leaders elect von der Leyen for a second term as EC president

2024-06-28 11:52:10Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

EU leaders elect von der Leyen for a second term as EC president

European Union leaders agreed to appoint Germany's Ursula von der Leyen to a second five-year term as president of the European Commission, the EU's powerful executive body. At a summit in Brussels, the bloc's 27 national leaders also chose former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa as the next head of European Council meetings and picked Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas as the next EU foreign policy chief.

"Mission accomplished! The European Council has given," the current president of the body, Charles Michel, told reporters early Friday morning. The leadership pack represents continuity at the top of the bloc of around 450 million people, with centrist pro-EU factions holding key posts despite a far-right surge in European Parliament elections earlier this month.

The trio won broad support, but right-wing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni abstained from voting for von der Leyen and voted against Costa and Kallas, according to diplomats. Meloni said in X that she decided not to support the leadership list "out of respect for the citizens and the indications that came from those citizens during the elections".

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, another right-winger, voted against von der Leyen and did not vote for Kallas, diplomats said. Von der Leyen's nomination still needs approval by the European Parliament in a secret ballot - widely seen as a more complicated proposition than her approval by EU leaders.

"It is a matter of convincing whether a broad majority for a strong Europe is possible," von der Leyen said. "That's what I'm going to work on." The leadership pack is politically and geographically balanced. Von der Leyen comes from the center right, Costa from the center left and Kallas from the liberal group of Europe. "This is a great responsibility at this time of geopolitical tensions. There is war in Europe, but there is also growing instability globally," Kallas told reporters. Costa said he would be "fully committed to promoting unity among the 27 member states" in his new role.

At the summit, the EU also signed a security deal with Ukraine, debated how to strengthen the EU's defense against Russia and agreed on the bloc's strategic priorities for the next five years. The security deal underlines the EU's support for Kiev to fight Moscow's takeover for a third year, despite gains by the far-right in European elections, uncertainty created by French snap elections and the US presidential vote in November. The agreement sets out the EU's commitments to help Ukraine in nine areas of security policy, including arms deliveries, military training, defense industry cooperation and demining.

"These commitments will help Ukraine defend itself, resist destabilization and deter future acts of aggression, a more concrete proof of the EU's unwavering determination to support Ukraine for the long term," Michel said. . The leaders reiterated their pledge to support Ukraine as long as necessary, stressing that "Russia must not prevail" and that Ukraine must take back land annexed by Moscow.


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