EU Leaders Back von der Leyen for Second Term

EU leaders have nominated German Ursula von der Leyen for a second five-year term as president of the European Commission. At the Brussels summit, which concluded last night, they also selected Portugal's Antonio Costa as president of the European Council, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas will serve as the EU's new high representative for foreign policy.

The trio, proposed by three pro-EU political groups - the European People's Party, the Party of European Socialists, and the European Liberals - garnered broad support from leaders, though not unanimous approval. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni abstained from voting for von der Leyen and opposed Costa and Kallas. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban also voted against the nominees. Both leaders argued that the nominations did not reflect the results of the European elections, which saw a significant increase in representation for conservative and far-right political forces in the European Parliament.

Von der Leyen's nomination must be confirmed by a majority of the European Parliament in a secret ballot, set to occur during the first session of the European Parliament in mid-July. Costa is scheduled to assume his role after December 1, when the current European Council President Charles Michel's term ends.