Brussels, 03/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - The likely future president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker - who was nominated by the European Council on 27 June and who, barring any last minute surprises, is due to be elected by the European Parliament on 15 July - met European Council President Herman Van Rompuy for a working lunch on Thursday 3 July. Their discussion focused on the informal European Council on 16 July and, more specifically, on the appointment of the high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy - an appointment in which the president of the Commission is also involved. Their working lunch also focused on the EU's strategic agenda, which was adopted unanimously by the European leaders on 27 June and which will be debated on 16 July with Juncker in attendance, said Van Rompuy's spokespersons, adding that it was “not yet a question of names”.
Van Rompuy is due to begin a series of talks on the issue with the member states. The idea of agreeing on a package of nominations on 16 July - for the high representative, the president of the European Council and the permanent president of the Eurogroup - is still being talked about, but “it is still not sure”, said Van Rompuy's spokespersons.
Names that are regularly mentioned to replace Catherine Ashton as high representative are those of the Italian minister for foreign affairs, Federica Mogherini, and of her Polish counterpart, Radislaw Sikorski. Other names currently in the frame for this post are those of the commissioner for international cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response, Kristalina Georgieva from Bulgaria, and of Sweden's foreign affairs minister, Carl Bildt. As the successor to Van Rompuy, the name of the current prime minister of Denmark, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, is still leading the stakes, even if she does not seem too enthusiastic about the position. The name of Enrico Letta seems to be less mentioned - and all the more so now that Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has said that Italy could undoubtedly not hold both the presidency of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the presidency of the European Council. The EPP Group in the European Parliament has not given up on the idea of recovering the post of European Council president and the names of Enda Kenny from Ireland and Jyrki Katainen from Finland are also mentioned in the press.
As for the permanent presidency of the Eurogroup, the current head, Jeroen Dijsselbloem from the Netherlands, is mentioned, as is the name of the Spanish minister for the economy, Luis de Guindos, who also features regularly in the predictions. France's former minister for finance, Pierre Moscovici, has stated publicly that he is not interested in this post (and it would seem he rather has his eye on the post of Olli Rehn as European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs). (SP)