Without an agreement on the persons who will take the top positions in the EU, the informal Summit of the European leaders held in Brussels ended in the early hours.

Charles Michel: “There is no deal at this stage”

“There is no agreement at this stage,” European Council President Charles Michel told reporters shortly after the informal summit ended. However, he said that there was a good first discussion that moved, as he judged, in the “right direction”.

He explained that the political parties made their proposals and “we will have the opportunity in the coming days to work further to prepare the final decision.” He also reminded that from the beginning a final decision was not expected to be taken at yesterday’s informal dinner of European leaders, but at the European Council which will be convened in ten days, on June 27 and 28 in Brussels.

Asked if he is optimistic that there will be an agreement at the European Council at the end of the month, Charles Michel replied that it is “our duty to have made a decision by the end of June”.

Mr. Michel added that the European Council should also take decisions on the directions of the next legislative cycle, taking into account the outcome of the European elections, as well as on the strategic agenda for the next five years.

European leaders yesterday made the first assessment of the result of the European elections and discussed the persons who will take the top positions in the EU (presidents of the European Commission, the European Council, the European Parliament, the EU High Representative for the common foreign policy).

Emmanuel Macron: European leaders are not “far” from reaching a deal

French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters late last night, after the end of the informal summit, that European leaders are not “far” from reaching an agreement on the top positions in the EU (including the presidency of the European Union Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament).

Asked if he believed an agreement would be reached before the first round of parliamentary elections in France, in other words the European Council on June 27 and 28, Mr Macron replied “I think there will be an agreement before the parliamentary elections in France , but that’s not the goal.”

He noted that a balance could be achieved if the position of executive vice-president of the European Commission was offered to France.

Mark Rutte: “Moderately optimistic” for the post of NATO Secretary General

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte today said he was “moderately optimistic” about the possibility of Hungary ending its opposition to taking over the post of NATO Secretary General after discussing the issue with his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban.

Mr Rutte is widely seen as the preferred successor to Jens Stoltenberg, the Norwegian who will be Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization until the end of 2024, having secured the support of most of the alliance’s member states, including the US.

But to this day his candidacy is opposed by Mr. Orban, while he also has a competitor, the president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis.

“I am moderately optimistic about Hungary,” Mr Rutte told reporters after meeting Mr Orban on the sidelines of last night’s informal summit of the 27 in Brussels.

Mr Orban has said he is willing to end his opposition to Mr Rutte’s candidacy if the Dutch prime minister apologizes for comments about Hungary, which the right-wing nationalist prime minister found offensive, and if Budapest opts out of the planned increase of the alliance’s military assistance to Ukraine.

However, Mr Rutte said Mr Orbán “did not deserve an apology” and “I underlined that of course, I recorded” the reaction of Hungarian society “to what I said two years ago”.

“We stayed there, on the record, looking forward, and he didn’t apologize,” he insisted.

NATO member states want a deal on Mr Stoltenberg’s successor before their leaders’ summit in Washington in July.