The leaders of the European Union member states have spoken – Ursula Von der Leyen will continue as President of the European Commission for another five year term, while Kaja Kallas will become the new High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Antonio Costa will become the new president of the European Council.
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While Antonio’s confirmation is certain, Ursula (EPP) and Kaja (Renew) still need the European Parliament majority approval. 361 out of 720 MEPs will need to vote for them in the fall. The center coalition between EPP (conservatives), S&D (social democrats) and Renew (liberals) has almost 400 MEPs, so technically it should work out. However, 10% of the MEPs are expected to rebel and not vote the party line, which makes the outcome very uncertain.
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Moving forward, the question is, who will Ursula Von der Leyen work with to achieve a majority – the Greens or the far-right ECR? Based on this decision, we will know what to expect from the European Union for the next five years – more focus on climate change or on immigration.
The new secretary general of NATO is the prime minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte. It will not be an easy ride for the new leader of NATO– The conflict with Russia is only getting worse, Donald Trump might win the US elections again and pull the country out of the military alliance, and several members are refusing to spend money on strengthening their military (including Italy, Spain, and Canada).
Macron warns about potential civil war in France. If the far-right and far-left win the snap parliamentary elections today (June 30), the country could descend into civil war, according to the French president, Macron. According to opinion polls, the far-right stands to get 34%, the far-left 28%, and the centrist alliance only 20%.
