EU chiefs spar over top jobs as Juncker denied quick appointment

James G. Neuger & Jonathan Stearns

Europe’s leaders resisted calls to quickly baptize Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker as the next European Commission president, tying the appointment to a broader package of high-profile posts.

Allies of Juncker, a key figure in the creation of the euro in the 1990s and its defense during the debt crisis, ran into opposition led by U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron at a summit over dinner in Brussels that spilled into the early hours of Wednesday.

Juncker’s detractors said his advocacy of a more centrally steered European Union makes him the wrong man for the top post following a surge in populist, anti-EU sentiment in Europe-wide elections.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who went into the summit endorsing Juncker, came out of it saying “we now need to have consultations” about positions including foreign affairs chief, economic commissioner and the president of summits.

The first post to be decided in the appointments made every five years is head of the commission, which proposes and enforces EU laws, oversees euro fiscal policy, manages the EU single market and negotiates trade accords.

EU-wide unemployment of 10.5 percent, the scars of the debt crisis and hostility to immigration led to the anti- establishment groundswell in elections for the parliament, which has growing powers over European legislation.

French President Francois Hollande, stung by the anti- immigration National Front’s rise to the most popular party in France, said the next commission must promote growth and jobs. He backed Juncker, who beat rivals from four other parties, and accused critics of lacking alternatives.

“There are some countries that don’t want any of the candidates,” Hollande told...