EU divided over top job after polls redraw political map

Leaders tangle on successor to Juncker as European Commission president

Top European leaders applauded the Sunday election results but the battle for top European Union jobs continues following a summit of member-state leaders in Brussels on Tuesday.

The results of the elections to the European Parliament found the center-right European People's Party, or EPP and center-left Socialists and Democrats, or S&D, losing their combined majority for the first time in 40 years. Meanwhile, the liberal party group ALDE and the Greens made headways.

Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, said the high turnout of 51 percent was proof that "EU is a strong, pan-European democracy, which citizens care about".

He described a new mix in the parliament as "more representative". "It will reflect a much greater diversity of views and national sensitivities," he told a late night news conference after a meeting by leaders of the 28 member states.

Tusk believes the Brexit saga helped bring a pro-European majority in the vote. "As Europeans see what Brexit means in practice, they also draw conclusions. Brexit has been a vaccine against anti-EU propaganda and fake news," he said.

He said that leaders did not discuss names on Tuesday about top EU jobs, but just the process of selecting them. According to the EU Treaty, the European Council proposes candidates from which the European Parliament elects.

Tusk hoped that EU leaders will propose their choice for the next European Commission president by the next summit on June 21.

On Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron showed no sign of compromise in picking the next Commission president to replace Jean-Claude Juncker.

Merkel, who backed Manfred Weber, a German politician and lead candidate for EPP, said that she had talked to Macron. "It is no secret that he does not support the lead candidate principle but we all have to live with circumstances as they present themselves," she said.

Under the existing Spitzenkandidat (German for "lead candidate") system, the lead candidate of the party group that wins the most votes in the election is favored for the European Commission president.

"It looks more complicated and we have to face the facts and deal with them and again find a good solution," Merkel said.

Common criticism

Macron, whose En Marche party belongs to the liberal ALDE group, has opposed Merkel's choice of Weber. He said that the replacements for Juncker and Tusk require "experience and credibility to enable them to carry out these missions", referring to the common criticism that Weber has no executive experience.

"Today I do not want names to be talked about, names to be attacked; I think we have to take into account what came out of the polls, what the European people have expressed and we must also have decision-makers who have the credibility to be able to act," Macron said.

Macron is backing Michel Barnier, EU's chief Brexit negotiator and a former French foreign minister.

He has also shown support for Margrethe Vestager, lead candidate from ALDE and a former Danish finance minister who has been the European Commissioner for Competition. But some believe Macron has changed his mind after Vestager blocked the Siemens-Alstom merger early this year.

Frans Timmermans, the current first vice-president of the European Commission and former Dutch foreign minister, is another contender.

Besides the presidency, there are heated contests to head the European Council, European Central Bank, and European Parliament and to be representative for EU foreign policy and security policy.

The Guardian contributed to the story.