Appointment long-touted saw only Italy’s Georgia Meloni vote against
After years of speculation, Portugal’s former Socialist prime minister António Costa has finally been confirmed as the next president of the European Council.
The decision was announced last night in Brussels, with Italian prime minister Georgia Meloni being the only European leader who voted against.
Mr Costa said in his acceptance speech that he will take up the post with a “great sense of mission”, committed to promoting unity between the 27 member states and the Strategic Agenda for the next five years.
The post has a mandate for two and a half years. It is being vacated by Mr Costa’s predecessor Charles Michel as of December 1.
Writing on his social media account ‘X’, Mr Costa said: “It is with a great sense of mission that I take on the responsibility of being the next President of the European Council. I thank the members of the European Council for the trust they have placed in me by electing me, as well as the Party of European Socialists (PES) and the Government of Portugal for their support in this decision”.
The former secretary-general of the Socialist Party added that, as president of the European Council he will be “fully committed to promoting unity among the 27 member states and focused on implementing the Strategic Agenda, approved today and which will guide the European Union over the next five years”.
Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, who has been deeply critical of all last night’s nominations, ended up voting for Mr Costa – leaving Georgia Meloni to vote against. Ms Meloni equally abstained in the choice of (re-electing) Ursula von der Leyen as president of the European Commission, and in the choice of Estonia’s prime minister Kaja Kallas for High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security, while Mr Orbán stood out for being the only European leader who voted against the re-election of Ms von der Leyen. He also abstained over the appointment of Kaja Kallas.
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
