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European Council president Charles Michel has announced he will run in EU-wide elections in June in a move that would force him to step down early from his current role if elected, and could hand more influence to Hungary’s Viktor Orbán.
Michel said he planned to stand as the lead candidate for his liberal Reformist Movement party when the EU goes to the polls between June 6 and 9.
“I think it is extremely important to be accountable” and to support a “democratic vision” of the EU, he told reporters on Sunday.
Michel said he would campaign on the need to strengthen EU powers over security and defence: “If we want to be impactful in the long term, we need to develop this pillar,” he said.
If elected, he would have to step down before being sworn in as a member of the European parliament on July 16, said the former Belgian prime minister. His mandate would otherwise have ended in November.
Michel’s successor is likely to be a current or former EU leader, although no names have been formally presented.
The announcement also raises the prospect that Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán could gain greater influence over EU policymaking.
Governments of the EU’s 27 member states “will have to decide when my successor will take office”, Michel said. If no candidate was found quickly, member states might vote to allow Hungary, which will then hold the rotating chair of EU Council meetings, to hold the presidency until a replacement was found, Michel added.
That would hand Hungary’s prime minister Orbán the mediation role normally held by the council president.
The government that holds the rotating presidency chairs and organises meetings of ministers in various formations for issues such as foreign affairs or finance; summits of EU leaders are organised by the European Council president.
The European Commission president, meanwhile — the position held by Ursula von der Leyen — sets the legislative agenda in response to guidance from EU leaders.
Orbán has been a persistent thorn in the side of EU policymaking in the past year. At a summit of the bloc’s leaders in December, he refused to agree to a four-year, €50bn financial aid package for Ukraine seen as vital to the country’s survival this year in the face of the Russian invasion.
He also met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in October, the only EU leader other than Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer to do so since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.
Alberto Alemanno, professor of EU law at HEC Paris Business School, said: “Orbán isn’t entitled to hold the rotating presidency of the EU due to his manifest conflict of interest between being in breach of EU law and [Hungary] potentially being the chair of the council meetings deciding on sanctions [against Hungary].”
The European Commission has been withholding more than €30bn of EU funds from Hungary over concerns for the rule of law and human rights amid increasingly anti-European rhetoric from Budapest. In November, the commission agreed to release an initial payout from a potential €10.2bn that Hungary could now claim thanks to some tentative reforms.
Michel will be the first sitting European Council president to run in EU elections. Two previous council presidents — Herman Van Rompuy and Donald Tusk — subsequently sat as members of the European parliament. Tusk was appointed prime minister of Poland in December.
Michel’s announcement will increase pressure on von der Leyen, a member of the conservative European People’s party, to reveal her own intentions. She is expected to put herself forward for a second term.
After previous EU elections, the largest parliamentary group has been given the opportunity to appoint the president of the commission, the EU’s executive arm, leaving the role of council president — who is responsible for brokering agreements between the EU leaders and calling EU summits — open to a smaller group.
Both candidates must be approved by a majority of the EU’s 27 leaders, while the commission president also needs the backing of the parliament.
The latest polls show a significant swing towards the far right. Projections from election analyst EU Elects published on December 30 show the far-right Identity and Democracy group, of which the French nationalist Marine Le Pen is a member, on course to overtake the Renew liberal group to become the third-largest faction.
Michel said 2024 would be an “extraordinary electoral year”, with more than half the world’s population due to vote. With pressure on democratic values and the growth of extremist parties, Michel said he felt it was his responsibility as a liberal “to be active, to be committed, to defend”.
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