Good morning from Brussels, EU leaders did not manage at an informal dinner on Monday to reach a previously widely expected “quick deal” on EU top jobs, limiting themselves to a “good conversation”, according to EU Council chief Charles Michel. The package under discussion was to renominate incumbent EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for a second term and appoint Portugal’s António Costa as European Council president and Estonia’s Kaja Kallas as foreign policy chief. While the objective to find a compromise by the end of the month – before the French parliamentary elections - remains, diplomatic sources confirmed to Euractiv that the deal did not get stuck on the names but on the policies’ package for the next five years. Particularly, candidates were asked to present more detailed plans of what they would do in their potential roles. On a political level, there was another hurdle: the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the winner of the EU elections, wanted to nominate a centre-right politician for the second half of the five-year term of the European Council post, a deviation from the tradition of the nominee serving two consecutive mandates, meaning the Socialists would only serve one term. Moreover, before the dinner, several leaders, mainly from the EPP, expressed reservations about Costa’s candidacy because of the latter’s embroilment in an ongoing corruption probe back home, although he has not been formally charged with any crime. Last but not least, despite their gains in the EU elections, far-right and hard-right conservatives, such as Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, are not officially considered in the top-job discussion. “The will of the European people was ignored today in Brussels”, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said after the summit. EU leaders will now reconvene in Brussels on June 27-28. Aurélie Pugnet, Max Griera and Alexandra Brzozowski have the story. Euractiv was also informed today in the morning that at the EPP pre-summit, the EU centre-right leaders adopted an approach of “minimum concessions” with many saying that the EPP won the elections and was the only pro-EU force that increased its political strength after the elections. In addition, sources said that at the meeting some raised the issue of Costa’s poor English skills, but others pointed out that it was also the case for Tusk – who was present – when he took over the EU Council presidency. EPP leaders also said they wanted to hear more from Kallas regarding foreign policy matters other than just Russia and Ukraine. | 