‘Pissed off, and rightly so.’ EU fury at Charles
Michel stepping down
EU diplomats are increasingly skeptical that the
European Council president can combine campaigning to be an MEP with his
current role.
BY BARBARA
MOENS, JACOPO BARIGAZZI AND EDDY WAX
JANUARY 12,
2024 4:03 AM CET
BRUSSELS —
Has Charles Michel screwed up?
European
diplomats and officials certainly think so and have lambasted the European
Council president’s decision to run as a candidate for the European Parliament.
If he is elected, Michel plans to take up his seat in mid-July, well before his
term as Council president ends in November.
“It’s an
absolutely scandalous thing to have done,” said Andrew Duff of the European
Policy Centre.
As Europe
watches — and struggles with — two major wars on its doorstep, Michel’s exit
from one of the most important jobs in the EU institutions cog is seen as a
signal that the 48-year-old Belgian cares more about his future prospects than
about his current role. Additionally, his departure threatens to create a
panicky scramble over the next top jobs as Hungary will take over the rotating
presidency of the Council of the EU later this year, meaning euroskeptic,
pro-Russia Prime Minister Viktor Orbán would helm meetings in Michel’s absence.
His
bombshell announcement this week risked creating a conflict of interest, six EU
diplomats and three EU officials said, as Michel would be running for one job
while still doing another. As a result, diplomats and politicians are asking if
it would be better if he didn’t just quit immediately after the European
election in June, or even sooner.
One EU
diplomat, granted anonymity — like others in this piece — to speak freely,
summed up the feeling of many in Brussels, saying: “The bottom line is that the
European Council is unlikely to let itself be hijacked … [by] a campaign
stunt…It’s quite disingenuous and disrespectful to the role of the European
Council.”
An official
close to Michel stressed that EU leaders were not caught off-guard and that
they were informed as soon as possible. “We informed leaders at the right time
to avoid leaks,” said the official close to Michel. “Some leaders were informed
directly by him, some others indirectly,” said the official, referring to an
email that was sent by Michel’s office to the leaders’ so-called sherpas, the
officials who work shoulder-to-shoulder with the leaders on EU issues.
Now, Michel
is facing an increasing backlash over how he let leaders know that he would run
as a candidate. The former Belgian prime minister publicly announced his
decision late Saturday evening in interviews with Belgian media ahead of the
New Year’s reception of his party.
But one of
the EU officials rebuked that version of events, saying that Michel only
properly talked over the decision with his buddy French President Emmanuel
Macron, while merely sending an email to the offices of other European leaders,
leaving “all of them pissed off, and rightly so.”
An EU
diplomat said that “member states were not consulted in advance about Michel‘s
decision. Obviously, capitals were not amused that they were informed at the
same time as media started to report.”
Latvia’s
Foreign Minister Krišjānis Kariņš told POLITICO’s Power Play podcast that
Michel’s announcement took him “a little bit by surprise” and added that it
creates a “difficulty” for handling the top job discussions.
Before the
European parliamentary election in early June, Michel will have to walk a fine
line between campaigning for his party, the Belgian liberal Reformist Movement
(MR), and forging compromises among the 27 capitals.
EU diplomats and politicians are asking if it would be
better if Michel didn’t just quit immediately after the election in June, or
even sooner
There are
fears about whether Michel will use the trappings of his current office to
campaign, for example staff and budget, two EU officials said. No European
Council president has campaigned for a seat in the European Parliament (Michel
is only the third person to have done the job), leaving officials scrambling
over how to handle the situation.
“His track
record isn’t particularly great when it comes to this, so you can feel capitals
are getting nervous,” a second official said, referring to criticism about
Michel’s sizeable travel expenses.
Draft
guidance prepared by the Council’s legal team, seen by POLITICO, tries to avoid
such conflicts, saying that budget or staff “can not be used for activities
linked to the electoral campaign.” Michel would however still benefit from
security protection, even during campaign events, says the same draft. An EU
official close to Michel said: “He will have a team, no resources will be
used.”
After the
election, things become tricky.
European
leaders are scheduled to meet on June 17 and again on June 27-28 to discuss a
replacement for Michel — though the role of European Council chief is normally
one that’s part of the protracted horse-trading among political groupings that
follow EU elections.
In normal
circumstances, Michel would play a key role in forging that compromise. “At the
heart of this process is the credibility and objectivity of the outgoing
president of the European Council,” Duff said, adding that it’s the moment of
“peak power” in the job.
But if the
Belgian becomes one of the chess pieces on the board — or aspires to be one —
that credibility falls apart.
“Whether a
candidacy for the European Parliament is right in view of this responsibility
is something Charles Michel must assess for himself,” Austria’s EU minister
Karoline Edtstadler told local press on Tuesday.
Michel’s
decision had an immediate effect. He had pushed for a discussion on the
so-called “Strategic Agenda,” the legislative priorities for the coming years.
Now leaders are reluctant to continue the discussion, because much of this
legislation would involve the European Parliament and he will likely be an MEP,
a diplomat said.
Luxembourg’s
Prime Minister Luc Frieden told POLITICO that Belgium’s PM Alexander De Croo,
whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU until the
end of June, could take over Michel’s role, or that leaders could appoint an
interim candidate to finish the term. That would give European leaders time to
discuss the entire top jobs package.
“My
personal preference at this moment is that we find an interim solution so that
all these top functions can be filled together in light of the result of the
European elections,” Frieden said.
In the
European Parliament, however, some are already putting pressure on Michel to
resign now. Jens Geier, the top German Social Democrat EU lawmaker, called
Michel’s move an “ego trip” which makes it “necessary that he steps down from
the office.”
Kathleen
Van Brempt, a Belgian Socialist MEP, added: “I think he should apply the same
rules as a commissioner and step down now or in a month’s time and start
campaigning so that the Council can organize itself.”
Michel will
face MEPs in Strasbourg next Wednesday in a debate focused on the final and
next European Council summits.
Even before
the announcement, Michel faced criticism over how he was doing the job. “I
don’t think he’s been a great success,” said Duff, adding that if Michel
believed he had been a good president, he would have been more likely to stay
on.
But Michel
has no intention of resigning. “He counts to be fully involved as European
Council president, he’ll follow spotlessly the rules and there’s no reason for
him to step down,” said the official close to him.
Nicolas Camut contributed reporting.
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