EU leaders, stunned by a big euroskeptic protest vote in European parliament elections, agreed on Tuesday to seek a package deal of appointments to top EU jobs with an economic agenda to win back public confidence.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the 28-nation bloc’s most powerful leader, acknowledged that her center-right party’s candidate, former Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker, may not end up heading the executive European Commission.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, under pressure after the anti-EU UK Independence Party won the European parliament poll in Britain, traveled to the EU summit in Brussels determined to block the nomination of Juncker, seen in London as an old-style European federalist.
Sweden, the Netherlands and Hungary also voiced reservations, and the 28 leaders mandated European Council President Herman van Rompuy, who chairs EU summits, to hold consultations on a list of candidates for senior positions and a policy agenda for the next European Commission, Merkel said.
The aim was to wrap up the contentious appointments before the summer break, she said. EU leaders next meet on June 26 and June 27.
Merkel’s European People’s Party (EPP) won the most seats in the 751-member EU legislature, but no party has a clear majority. She paid lip service to Juncker’s candidacy for the top job, but said other outcomes were possible.
“As a member of the EPP, I supported Jean-Claude Juncker as our candidate for the presidency of the European Commission and I haven’t forgotten that, but I still have to respect the treaty,” Merkel told a press conference, rebuffing questions from German reporters about breaking her word to voters.
The Lisbon treaty governing the EU says leaders have to “take into account” the election results, but it does not specify that they have to nominate the so-called Spitzenkandidat of the biggest party as European Commission president.
Asked whether she was willing to outvote Cameron, she said it was important to preserve the good working atmosphere of the European Council, especially in times of crisis.
With far-right, anti-EU parties sweeping to unprecedented victories in France, Britain and Denmark, the leaders faced tough questions about the future direction of the EU.
“The European Union cannot just shrug off these results and carry on as before,” Cameron said. “We need change. We need an approach that recognizes that Europe should concentrate on what matters, on growth and jobs, and not try to do so much.”
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not