They get the highest jobs in the European Union

After the EU elections, the battle is over who should take on the heaviest tasks in parliament. As expected, Germany's Ursula von der Leyen has been re-elected as President of the European Commission for another five years.

“Ursula has what it takes: decisive, respectful and with a strong moral compass,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (centre) wrote on X about von der Leyen.

mixed feelings

Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa becomes the new President of the Council, while Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas takes over as EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner, succeeding Josep Borrell.

The appointments have stirred up uneasy feelings within the nationally conservative, eurosceptic European People's Party group, which includes the Sweden Democrats.

For the Social Democratic Party, the elections were a setback, but in Europe, right-wing nationalist parties made strong progress with the Italian Brotherhood in the lead. The ECR looks set to eventually overtake the RE Liberal Party as the third largest group in Parliament.

Melonie criticizes harshly

Despite this, the top three positions go to the Christian Democrat, Social Democrat and Liberal. Together, party groups form a qualified majority in parliament, which is required when making decisions about office.

During negotiations over potential candidates for top posts, Italy’s right-wing nationalist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was excluded, and in recent days she has not backed down from her criticism, accusing her EU colleagues of ignoring the election results.