The EU base will be expanded – already now?

The future of the European Union

European Union (TT correspondent)

The stage is set for another five years with Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission.

Settlement can be completed today.

When the heads of state and government of EU countries meet in Brussels at 6 p.m., it was originally supposed to be just a preparatory inquiry into the situation after the EU elections.

Decisions on who it wants to see in the EU's most senior positions were only expected to be made at the regular summit on June 27-28.

But the question is whether the leaders are not really on the same page now.

Increasing numbers of sources are telling all kinds of news sites that there is widespread support for a comprehensive solution with Germany's von der Leyen continuing as Commission president, former Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa as Council president, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas as the new foreign minister.

– Decisions will now be made very quickly on the most important positions to be filled in Europe so that the EU can act, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in an interview with journalists from the German Springer Group this weekend – a clear sign of where the wind is blowing.

Regardless of what heads of state and government say – and when they do it – von der Leyen's appointment must also be approved by an absolute majority, at least 361 votes, in the EU Parliament. It could happen in mid-July at the earliest.

Victor Nomlin/TT