Social Democratic Party Secretary General Pedro Nuno Santos said today that António Costa “is the best prepared politician” to assume the presidency of the European Council, considering his appointment as good news for Europe, Portugal and the Socialists.
“António Costa is the politician best prepared to assume the presidency of the European Council and give this position the political weight it requires,” reads Pedro Nuno Santos’s social media post.
According to the PS leader, this is “good news for Europe, Portugal and the socialists.”
Pedro Nuno Santos followed up this publication with a Politico news report that European Council negotiators have reached a preliminary agreement on the appointment of António Costa.
The six heads of government and state of the European Union (EU), who are negotiating top positions in the European Council, including the appointment of Antonio Costa, reached a preliminary agreement today, European sources told Lusa.
After a failed first attempt to reach an agreement at an informal dinner of EU leaders on 17 June, these negotiators (centre-right, socialists and liberals) discussed Europe’s top positions in the next institutional cycle, discussing them under a new policy framework named after the leadership of the European Council, Ursula von der Leyen for a second term in the European Commission and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas as head of public diplomacy.
According to European sources heard by Lusa today, negotiators reached a party agreement (which is preliminary) on these names after a video conference meeting on Monday evening, which also includes an agreement for Roberta Metsola, who is expected to be reappointed as President of the European Parliament, although she is not officially part of the package because she was not chosen by the European Council.
For the European People’s Party, the negotiators are Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk; from the socialists – the head of the Spanish government, Pedro Sanchez, and the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz; and from the liberals – French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
However, this is an approval by the parties and not final, which can only be confirmed at a leaders’ summit later this week in Brussels.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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