European Council President Charles Michel will stand in the European Parliament elections in June, he told three Belgian media outlets.
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A spokesman for Michel confirmed the statement to POLITICO.
Michel plans to take his seat in the European Parliament in mid-July if he is elected, meaning EU leaders will have to quickly agree on a successor to his ousted parliament post. If they don’t, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose country will take up the rotating presidency of the EU Council in July, will lead the meetings in the role of mediator usually performed by the European Council president.
This scenario – with Orbán running the Rada unchecked for six months immediately after the 2024 European Parliament elections – is one that most of the other 26 EU leaders would desperately want to avoid, given the escalating tensions between them and Orbán over, for example, support Ukraine and violations of the rule of law in Hungary
This is the first time that an incumbent president will be a candidate in elections to the European Parliament.
As a rule, European Council presidents remained in office until the end of November, when a new college of commissioners was to be installed.
While Michel’s move is legally sound, it puts additional pressure on European leaders as they typically have more time to conduct business during the big distribution of top jobs that always occurs after the EU’s five-year vote, Politico writes.
Following parliamentary elections on June 6-9 in all 27 EU countries, European leaders will meet on June 17 and again on June 27-28.
It is at these meetings that they are likely to try to come to an agreement on Michel’s replacement – although the role of Council President is usually part of long-running bargaining between the political factions once the election results are clear, and as they seek to share the various top EU jobs among themselves .
Michel’s announcement comes on the eve of the first congress and New Year’s reception of his party, the Belgian liberals of the Reform Movement.
At that convention on Sunday, party president Georges-Louis Bouchez is expected to say more about who will lead the party on the eve of June 9, when Belgians go to the polls not only for the EU vote, but also for regional and national elections.
Michel did not say whether his decision to run for the parliamentary seat means he will be interested in other top jobs, such as being the leading candidate of the European Liberals – the bloc’s third-largest political camp – for the presidency of the European Commission, or whether he wants to succeed Didier Reynders – also from MR – as European Commissioner for Belgium.
Source: Racurs
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