French President Emmanuel Macron sought to break a deadlock over the EU's top jobs on Tuesday by proposing France's Christine Lagarde, now head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to lead the European Central Bank (ECB), diplomatic sources said.
In his proposal, made to tired EU leaders on a third day of arm-wrestling over who will hold the posts for the next five years, Macron also proposed German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen to head the European Commission, the EU executive.
Donald Tusk, chairman of the summit, said a deal was "getting closer and closer", but there was immediate resistance from the European Parliament, which must approve the EU national leaders' nomination for the post of Commission president.
Diplomats said the leaders and Tusk were furiously working the phones with prominent EU parliamentarians to avoid a major institutional crisis that could paralyse decision-making in the 28-nation bloc.
The leaders are trying to balance political affiliations, the varying interests of different regions and an acute lack of women in senior ranks as they seek to fill five jobs coming vacant this year.
The marathon talks have underlined the growing fragmentation in the 28-nation European Union, increasingly struggling to agree a common platform on major challenges from migration to trade to climate change.
On Monday they had come close to a deal that would have seen Europe's Socialists and Democrats (S&D) hold the European Commission presidency, but the plan was scotched by opposition from east European countries and parts of the centre-right.
Macron's proposal would hand the Commission to the centre-right European People's Party (EPP), which includes German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling conservatives to whom von der Leyen belongs.
A diplomatic source said Merkel, the EU's most powerful leader, was "very positive" about the proposal of Lagarde, a former centre-right French finance minister. She is also likely to welcome the proposal of von der Leyen, a close ally.
Lagarde, an experienced political operator and a persistent advocate of letting more women into top economic jobs, would need to overcome her lack of experience in monetary policymaking if she were to lead the ECB.
Divisions
Italy and ex-communist eastern states had blocked Dutch socialist Frans Timmermans on Monday from taking up the post of Commission president, the highest-profile job in Brussels.
The Commission supervises EU states' budgets, acts as the bloc's competition watchdog and conducts trade negotiations with outside countries. Its presidency is the key post of the five, who will shape policy for the world's biggest economic bloc and its 500 million people.
The struggle to share out the posts -- which also include the new head of the European Parliament, the bloc's top diplomat and the chairman of EU summits -- has already taken a toll.
The deadlock meant the postponement of a separate meeting on Italy's public finances, and was distracting the EU as a nuclear deal it helped to forge with Iran was edging closer to collapse.
The stalemate in decision-making has also cast fresh doubt on whether the EU can take in new members from the Western Balkans, some of which are being courted by Moscow.
The inability to reach consensus bolsters criticism from anti-establishment nationalists and undermines the EU's image as it faces multiple external challenges -- from the United States, Russia, Iran and China among others.
If Macron's proposal is approved, it would be the first time that a woman has headed either the Commission or the ECB, which steers the economies of the 19 members of the single-currency euro zone.
Because both are centre-right politicians, socialist candidates should then take the post of top EU diplomat and deputy roles at the Commission, diplomats said. Possible names discussed on Tuesday afternoon included Timmermans, Spain's Josep Borrell, Slovakia's Maros Sefcovic and Bulgaria's Sergei Stanishev.
Parliamentary opposition
Belgium's caretaker prime minister, Charles Michel, a liberal, could become the next chairman of EU leaders' summits, the sources said. Another liberal, Denmark's Margrethe Vestager, could also get a senior Commission role, they added.
EU leaders have to seal a deal on Tuesday or risk being overtaken by the new European Parliament, which holds an inaugural session after a continent-wide election in May.
"There is a rebellion inside the S&D parliamentary group. They are blocking the agreement right now," a Socialist source said.
European Greens were also upset.
"This procedure is bizarre. Instead of respecting European voters, the heads of government negotiate in backrooms and damage European democracy. The parliament will definitely not pass this package blindly," Terry Reintke, deputy leader of the Green grouping in the European Parliament, told Reuters.
No single party has an outright majority in the European assembly.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Reuters
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: tvn24