Belgium does not intend to immediately replace its Prime Minister in current affairs and President of the Mouvement réformateur party, Charles Michel, appointed on 2 July as new head of the European Council. According to the Belgian press, Mr Michel's entourage insists that he should only take up his new duties on 1 December, which would still leave time to replace him.
The next Belgian member of the European Commission should be appointed early enough, before the end of October, with the post-Juncker Commission to take office at the beginning of November, so that this person can be heard by the competent European Parliament parliamentary committee. But no names are yet circulating. The prognosis is for a French-speaking person, after several Flemish personalities in recent years.
As a reminder, on 2 July, European leaders designated the new faces who will lead the EU institutions, including the current Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, who will take over the presidency of the European Council (see EUROPE 12287A1). At the national level, Mr Michel now only heads a federal government of current affairs, since he lost his majority following the departure of his coalition partner at the end of 2018. The regional, federal and European elections have not helped to stabilise the country, which is still looking for governments at all these levels of power.
According to the Belgian press, Charles Michel intends to take advantage of the deadline given to him, i.e. no later than 1 December, before leaving his post in Belgium. It is therefore most certainly up to his government of current affairs in the context of broader negotiations, to appoint the next European Commissioner sent by Belgium.
For the other Member States, in addition to the Danish Margrethe Vestager, the Dutch Frans Timmermans and the Slovak Maroš Šefčovič, the Latvian Valdis Dombrovskis and the Bulgarian Mariya Gabriel were re-elected by their respective governments. The former Finnish Finance Minister, Jutta Urpilainen, has been appointed and the former Luxembourg Labour Minister, Nicolas Schmit. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)