Written by Ralf Drachenberg.
The members of the European Council – the 27 EU Heads of State or Government, the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission – will gather in Brussels for an informal meeting on Monday 17 June to consider the results of the European Parliament elections of 6‑9 June 2024.
The European Council has an important role to play at this point in the institutional cycle; the meeting marks the starting point for the appointment process to the EU’s highest ranking positions (namely European Commission President, European Council President and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy). While no final decisions are expected, EU leaders may set out the procedure they envisage for the process, which they aim to complete at their next formal meeting, on 27‑28 June 2024.
Invitees at the informal dinner
Attendance at the informal dinner of EU leaders could differ from normal European Council meetings. The incumbent European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, is expected to join her fellow members to discuss the results of the European Parliament elections. She will most likely leave the room however during the discussion on the candidates for the EU’s top positions, for one of which she is a candidate.
The European Parliament’s President, Roberta Metsola, normally invited to be heard at European Council meetings, will also attend (part of) the dinner. At this point in the institutional cycle following the 2019 elections, a similar informal meeting of EU leaders took place to discuss the election results. That time both the European Commission President and the European Parliament President attended the dinner, but the President of the European Commission – Jean‑Claude Juncker – was stepping down from the role.
Discussions so far on the top jobs
The European Council did not discuss appointments to the EU top jobs at any of its meetings ahead of the elections. Nevertheless, the date of the informal dinner dedicated to the topic has long been written into EU leaders’ diaries. In December 2023, the indicative Leaders’ Agenda for 2024 included a reference to this meeting.
Five years ago by contrast, in 2019, then European Council President Donald Tusk announced an informal meeting to discuss the election results just three weeks ahead of it taking place. However, in the two years preceding the 2019 European elections, the European Council had already addressed appointments to EU institutional leadership posts on several occasions, notably at the informal European Council meeting of 23 February 2018.
Other opportunities for discussions
By the time EU leaders meet for the informal dinner on 17 June, they will already have had several opportunities to discuss the election results and possible candidates for the high-level appointments.
All in all, NATO’s meeting of the leaders of the Eastern Flank countries (Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) on 11 June in Riga, the G7 Summit (with the leaders of Germany, France and Italy, as well as von der Leyen and Michel) on 13‑15 June in Italy, the Ukraine Recovery Conference on 11‑12 June in Berlin, and the Ukraine Peace Conference on 15‑16 June in Switzerland, will have provided several opportunities to discuss possible configurations for the EU leadership positions.
In 2019, such meetings held outside the EU framework led to alternative proposals (to that proposed by the leading party following the elections) for the position of Commission President.
The meetings of the different European political families ahead of the informal dinner will be crucial to the process. On the day of the dinner, EU leaders will meet at ‘pre-summits’ with their peers in their respective European political families. At these meetings, European political parties are expected to designate or confirm one or several of their affiliated EU leaders as political negotiators for the appointment process.
Possible outcomes and next steps
No definite decisions on the top EU jobs are expected to be taken during the informal dinner – firstly because no formal decision can be taken at an informal meeting, but more fundamentally, because the European Council President needs to consult with the leadership of the European Parliament.
In 2019, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, and the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, held consultations on the high-level appointments after the informal dinner. Tusk then met with leaders of the main political groups individually, as well as with Parliament’s Conference of Presidents.
This time, at the informal dinner, Charles Michel is expected to outline the principles guiding the process for appointing the EU’s new institutional leaders. The Lisbon Treaty sets out two main principles for this process: EU leaders need to take into account the EU’s ‘geographical and demographic diversity’. In practice, other factors such as gender equality and political balance are also taken into consideration.
A decision might however be taken on the procedure to be followed to gather the different views on the allocation of the top positions. At their informal dinner following the 2019 European elections, EU leaders agreed that six Heads of State or Government – the prime ministers of Croatia (Andrej Plenkovič – European People’s Party – EPP), Latvia (Krišjānis Kariņš – EPP), the Netherlands (Mark Rutte – Renew Europe), Belgium (Charles Michel – Renew Europe), Spain (Pedro Sánchez – Party of European Socialists – PES) and Portugal (Antonio Costa – PES) – would negotiate on behalf of their respective political families in informal discussions on the high-level appointments. It is likely that European Council members could set out a similar procedure at their informal dinner on 17 June 2024.
The EPP has already indicated that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Greek Prime Minster Kyriakos Mitsotakis would be the EPP negotiators this time. The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, have been designated negotiators for the PES. The Liberal family will be represented by Estonian Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, and the outgoing Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo.
Currently the European Council includes 11 members from the EPP, 5 from Renew Europe/ALDE, 4 from the PES, 2 from the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), and 5 independent or non-affiliated members.
Other topics relevant to the new institutional cycle
While focusing on possible candidates for the EU’s highest-ranking positions, EU leaders might also continue their discussions on the strategic agenda, which is also defined at the start of each new institutional cycle. Leaders are expected to adopt the 2024‑2029 agenda at their formal meeting on 27‑28 June.
The European Council has not yet addressed the European Parliament’s formal request of 22 November 2023 to call a convention for the revision of the Treaties. Parliament’s aim is to give citizens a greater say and to create a more effective EU. At the end of the Spanish Council Presidency, Member States adopted this agenda point at the Environment Council meeting of 18 December 2023 without discussion, and forwarded it to the European Council President. The latter is yet to put this point on the European Council agenda. Charles Michel stated recently that he was ‘not in favour of a reform of the [EU] Treaty in the short-term or mid-term’. As this view is shared by the vast majority of Member States, it is quite likely that the European Council will, once again, decline to respond to Parliament’s request.
Read this ‘at a glance note’ on ‘Outlook for the informal meeting of EU leaders on 17 June 2024‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.
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