Tajani raises the stakes: “Metsola is not just a two-and-a-half year candidate, EPP won and deserves five years”

Brussels – A von der Leyen bis for the European Commission, and especially a Metsola bis, complete for the entire legislature, for the European Parliament. The European People’s Party (EPP) is thinking about it and plans, if not to force the hand, at least to raise the price of political negotiation for the so-called “top jobs”, the top echelons of the EU institutions. “You cannot say that Roberta Metsola will stay only two and a half years,” makes it clear Antonio Tajani, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice President of the EPP: “The EPP can only be a winner with a post that lasts five years.”

The clear success of the populars at the last European elections and the difficulty of the other forces prompts the EPP to try to play ace catch-all: The Commission, as the rule dictates for the party with the most votes, and the Parliament, but without the alternation that has now become an established practice with the Socialists. That could be the price for the Socialists if it is true that, Tajani admits, the name of Portuguese Socialist Antonio Costa for the role of the next President of the European Council does not convince some leaders. “There is a fear that he is not strong enough on Ukraine,” he told the press on the sidelines of the EPP summit preceding the leaders’ meeting.

The bets seem to be off. “I understand that the role of High Representative goes to the Liberals,” Tajani considers, with one name above all, current Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. Then, the Socialists are left with the box in the European Council. If Costa’s name does not entirely convince within the EPP, Kallas does not seem to convince either. “It is important that the High Representative also take into account the problems of the South,” the head of the Farnesina continues. Again, these words seem to support the all-political EPP strategy: a full mandate to Metsola in exchange for no veto on the other major posts. All put back, in any case, to the negotiation test of facts.

In fact, there are not only “top jobs”: The negotiations also involve the members of the next college of commissioners. For his Italy, Tajani firmly claims “a vice-presidency and a portfolio of weight,” but without specifying which. At the appropriate time, the President of the Council, Giorgia Meloni, will have to show the cards. It is up to her to propose the name of the working team member of the next President of the European Commission. That could once again be von der Leyen.