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Charles Michel’s plan to resign early from his post as European Council president has jump-started negotiations over EU top jobs, with former Italian prime minister Mario Draghi tipped by some as a leading contender.
Draghi, 76, is the former European Central Bank president credited with saving the bloc’s single currency and a potential option to succeed Michel, EU officials and diplomats told the Financial Times.
Other possible candidates are also likely to emerge for the role of European Council president, which involves chairing and setting the agenda for summits of EU leaders.
It is difficult to predict the sequence of deals to fill the EU’s top jobs, which also depend on the outcome of EU-wide elections, the people said. A source close to Draghi said he was not seeking any of the bloc’s leading roles.
But the speculation over Draghi’s prospects, based on his record, experience and stature as one of the EU’s most prominent figures, underscores the desire in many capitals to finalise a successor well before Michel’s likely departure in mid-July.
“Draghi is the kind of figure people will find it very hard to say no to if there is a true momentum behind him,” said Nathalie Tocci, director of the Rome-based Istituto Affari Internazionali, a think-tank. “But it’s not clear that others are willing to set that in motion.”
“He’s unlikely to say no if seriously asked, but he’s also not going to elbow his way to this,” said Tocci.
The urgency around finding a successor to Michel — who is to run as an MEP — has been partly prompted by EU rules that would allow Hungary’s prominent Eurosceptic leader Viktor Orbán to assume the post if no candidate can be agreed by the time the European Council president steps down.
Hungary will hold the six-month rotating presidency of the EU as of July 1. Newly elected members of the European parliament must take office by mid-July, the latest date Michel could remain as president.
But EU leaders also have the option of installing an interim candidate to exclude Orbán. Draghi, however, is unlikely to accept this role on an interim basis, one official said.
Draghi stepped back from public life in 2022 after his time as Italian prime minister was cut short by snap elections. But he took an EU advisory role last year when European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen asked him to write a report into the bloc’s faltering competitiveness.
The former Italian leader will brief members of the commission on the initial work for that report in Brussels on Friday. It is due to be published after the EU elections.
Other names being floated for the European Council post include the current prime ministers, such as Pedro Sánchez of Spain and Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen.
Unlike Draghi, both leaders are affiliated with big European political parties, an important factor in EU appointments. Draghi’s lack of party affiliation “will hamstring him”, said an EU diplomat.
While the government in Rome might back his candidacy, member states in central and eastern Europe have long complained that top jobs are too often given to western Europeans.
While Draghi’s extensive résumé would give him a strong presence at the summit table, his forthright views on policies including fiscal integration could irk countries such as Germany who traditionally take the opposite view.
“He’s too political,” said one EU official briefed on the discussions. “The balance [around the summit table] is not right.”
Additional reporting by Alice Hancock
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