Prime ministers and presidents of the 27 member states of the European Union will take their seats around the table for the European Council meeting in Brussels at 2pm today, Thursday 27 June 2024. The objective is to assign the positions of those who will lead Europe in the next five years. Security and defense issues are priorities. Ursula von der Leyen towards reconfirmation, Italy wants the vice-presidency, the Estonian Kaja Kallas towards foreign policy.

The summit will open with a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, explained that this "will be an opportunity to welcome the adoption of negotiating frameworks and the holding of intergovernmental conferences with Ukraine, Moldova and Montenegro are historic steps in supporting these countries' respective paths towards EU membership".

Security and defense issues are priorities. Michel reiterated that on these issues "the member states are divided between those who propose new instruments, including common debt, to finance a real European defense industrial policy, and those (Germany and the Nordic countries) who don't even want any we will talk about the possibility of using the European Investment Bank (EIB), which however currently, by statute, cannot finance military spending", as requested by the President of the Italian Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni.

People's Party, socialists and liberals would like to entrust von der Leyen with the presidency of the European Commission, but Italy is asking for a leading role. The Italian deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Antonio Tajani (Ppe): "We believe that as far as Italy is concerned, there must be a vice president and an important portfolio. Which is the responsibility of the second largest manufacturing industry in Europe, which is the responsibility of a founding country. A country that has a stable government for the next three and a half years, so unlike others I believe that Italy can play a fundamental role in the community context in the coming years".

On the topic, see also the article published by AVIONEWS.