At the summit held in Brussels on Thursday after the European Parliament (EP) elections, the names to steer the EU for the following 5 years have been introduced.
The EU leaders elected Antonio Costa because the president of the European Council, Ursula von der Leyen because the president of the European Commission and the outgoing Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas because the excessive consultant of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
– Antonio Costa
Starting his profession as a lawyer, Costa was elected as an MP from Portugal’s Socialist Party in 1991. He was appointed minister for parliamentary affairs in 1997.
Costa served as minister for justice from 1999 to 2002 and chaired the Socialist Party Parliamentary Group between 2002 and 2004.
Costa’s EU profession started in 2004. He turned an MEP from the Socialist Party and served as EP Vice-President in 2004-2005.
Then, Costa was appointed as Portugal’s minister of house affairs, previous to being elected as mayor of Lisbon in 2007, 2009 and 2013. He additionally served as a member of the European Committee of the Regions from 2010 to 2015.
Costa ran because the chief of the Socialist Party within the 2015 legislative elections however misplaced. Nevertheless, Costa fashioned an alliance with the left-wing opposition events and led a coalition authorities, changing into prime minister for the primary time.
Costa served as Portugal’s prime minister from November 2015 till July 2023, when he resigned attributable to an investigation towards him in reference to allegations of corruption in public tenders associated to lithium and inexperienced hydrogen.
Costa’s election as European Council President shocked some quarters, given the continuing investigations towards him.
Costa will chair the council, the decision-making physique made up of the leaders of EU member states, and can host summits to find out the EU’s total political path and priorities.
– Ursula von der Leyen
Von Der Leyen’s political profession started in 1990 when she joined the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) celebration, changing into a member of the Lower Saxony Parliament and holding numerous ministerial positions within the state authorities.
In 2005, von der Leyen began to partake within the federal authorities when she was appointed as minister for household affairs and youth within the Cabinet of then-Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Then, she served as minister for labor and social affairs from 2009 to 2013.
Von der Leyen turned Germany’s first feminine protection minister in 2013, a place she held till 2019.
Her journey to turn into president of the European Commission started together with her nomination in July 2019. The skilled politician on Dec. 1, 2019 turned the primary lady to be elected president of the fee, with the assist of nearly all of the EP and EU leaders.
She was criticized for the EU’s first vaccine procurement course of and distribution delays in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, and her push for formidable local weather insurance policies confronted opposition from some member states and far-right events involved about their financial impression.
Von der Leyen’s stance and her pro-Israel stance following Israel’s assaults on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023 sparked reactions from Europeans in addition to inside the EU administration and the EP.
As one of many first leaders to pay a go to of assist to Israel on the outset of the assaults, von der Leyen’s statements emphasizing “Israel’s right to defend itself” regardless of civilian casualties have been seen as a deviation from the EU’s historically balanced Israel-Palestine coverage.
Von der Leyen’s stance sparked accusations of bias and insensitivity to the humanitarian disaster dealing with Palestinian civilians.
Israel’s assaults have killed at the very least 37,834 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them girls and youngsters, and injured greater than 86,800 others, in keeping with native well being authorities.
Von der Leyen will head the fee, the EU’s govt physique, which can provoke the legislative course of by proposing legal guidelines, implement the acquis and the finances, and conduct administrative oversight.
– Kaja Kallas
Kallas, who will function the EU excessive consultant for international affairs and safety coverage for 5 years, can also be the primary feminine prime minister of Estonia.
The daughter of former Estonian Prime Minister and EU Commissioner Siim Kallas, Kallas determined to observe in her father’s footsteps by quitting her job as a lawyer and entered the Estonian Parliament in 2011 as a member of the liberal Reform Party.
She served within the EP from 2014 to 2018.
Kallas returned to her house nation in 2019 and have become an MP once more, and was elected prime minister within the 2021 elections.
The Russian-Ukrainian battle, which erupted when she had been prime minister for just one 12 months, was the turning level in Kallas’ profession.
Kallas, who has been outstanding together with her anti-Russian rhetoric since she took workplace earlier than the battle, has come to be referred to as Europe’s new “iron lady.”
Urging for unconditional assist to Ukraine in addition to expressing harder stance towards Russia, she turned a goal of the Kremlin. Russia put Kallas on its wished record in February 2024.
Kallas, who was talked about as NATO’s new secretary-general within the following months, expressed her curiosity on this place, however the concept that a frontrunner on Russia’s wished record would additional pressure relations prevailed.
Kallas, the brand new excessive consultant of the EU, is the primary Eastern European politician to carry this place. She can even be the primary Estonian politician to carry a prime place within the EU administration.
Kallas might be answerable for the Union’s international and safety coverage and also will function vp of the European Commission.
Source: www.anews.com.tr