Brussels, 10/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - The boat trip for the German, British and Dutch leaders - Angela Merkel, David Cameron and Mark Rutte - who were invited to the land of their Swedish friend, Frederik Reinfeldt, on Monday 9 and Tuesday 10 June, still does not seem to have managed to sink Jean-Claude Juncker's candidacy for the post of president of the European Commission.
Invited by Reinfeldt to Harpsund for a mini-summit officially focusing on the European economy, the four leaders addressed the European top jobs issue and, with it, the fate of Luxembourg's candidate, Juncker, who has been subjected to an extremely vicious campaign in the UK - both in the press and in political circles, with the members of the Labour Party also now taking position against him. However, Cameron, Reinfeldt and Rutte, who are well-known for their stance against both the selection process and the candidate, have still not managed to convince Merkel to let go of Juncker, the former head of the Eurogroup.
Questioned during a press conference on Tuesday, Merkel repeated her position. “I have already spoken in Germany about names and I can do it here again. I said that Juncker was my candidate for the presidency of the Commission, that I would like him to be the president. I said this in Germany and I repeat it”, she said, according to French news agency, AFP.
Over the weekend Cameron, Rutte and Reinfeldt reiterated their reservations. Cameron said that the heads of state should be the only ones able to choose the leaders of the European institutions, rather than accepting a procedure that has never been agreed - referring to the personalisation of the campaign which the European Parliament wanted. Reinfeldt also reiterated that the heads-of-list process prevented other potential candidates from entering the race.
Rutte, who has previously said that there should be no automaticity between those at the top of the political parties' lists and the candidates who are finally retained, was due to travel to Ireland just after his trip to Sweden, to meet Prime Minister Enda Kenny. According to media, Rutte's trip to Ireland should enable the two leaders to discuss the nominations for Commission president.
Officially, it is only on the free movement of European citizens in the EU and on fraud in services that Cameron claimed victory on Tuesday 10 June, speaking about an agreement between the four leaders to step up the fight against the abuse (see other article). However, the haze continues over Juncker's fate and the package of nominations for other posts (including those of the high representative and the president of the Council).
Consultations with European Parliament groups on Thursday 12 June.
It is nevertheless this week that serious business should begin between the Council and the European Parliament - with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy planning to meet the heads of the Parliament's political groups on an individual basis on 12 June. The Parliament's political groups are now broadly composed. These discussions - the content of which has not yet been given in detail to the groups, according to certain sources - could enable Van Rompuy to sound out the possible majorities around the current candidates - and thus to sound out support for Juncker. Van Rompuy will also listen to the requests of the political groups in exchange for this support.
For his part, Van Rompuy was very clear about his intentions on Tuesday 10 June, reiterating on the sidelines of a press conference that the main issue for now was to identify the work priorities for the next Commission. “Then we will decide on the candidate” who is the best placed to carry out this programme, he told press. Rather than focus on names, “the top objective is the substance. Before deciding on a name, we need to know what direction we want for the EU for the next five years”, he said (our translation throughout). (SP)