New change of plans by the President of the European Council, the Belgian Charles Michel. Less than a month ago it was announced that he would lead the list of his party, the French-speaking Liberals of Belgium, for the European elections, which led to him leaving his current position in Brussels early this term. This Friday he announced on Facebook that he had remedied the situation: “I will not run. I will devote myself with full determination to my current responsibilities until they are over. “I will always be an ardent supporter of a democratic, strong, united Europe that is master of its destiny.”
The intentions of the 48-year-old former Belgian Prime Minister, had put the EU in a complicated scenario. He had announced that he would give up his position as Council President after the European elections at the beginning of June, about five months before his term of office expired on November 30th. And that opened the door to the possibility that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a populist and Eurosceptic, would take office if there had been no prior agreement from leaders. This possibility makes more than one person's hair stand on end in the municipal capital. Several diplomatic sources again spoke positively about Portuguese President António Costa as Michel's successor.
In his text published on the social network Meta, Michel explained that he did not want his decision to “undermine the unity of this institution.” [el Consejo Europeo], nor that it is misused to share it.” “I welcome any political criticism and legitimate arguments. Of course, there are several possible points of view for every situation. But personal attacks are increasingly taking precedence over objective arguments,” he stated, before concluding in a final paragraph announcing that he would exhaust his mandate and not run for the elections. “I will devote myself with full determination to my current responsibilities until they are over. […] At the end of this term, I will reflect on my future commitments,” he concluded.
Risks for the device
Sources close to Michel told this newspaper that the Belgian politician has realized in recent weeks that it is not time to make this decision as it could pose risks for the unity of the twenty-seven. This will be put to the test very quickly, on February 1st at the European Council meeting, where the focus will be on how the 50 billion in aid to Ukraine over the next four years will be implemented is financed. In December, Orbán blocked exactly this decision and now continues to threaten to do so. But that's not all: there are also European elections coming up, where it is very likely that Eurosceptic forces will increase. Furthermore, the specter of Donald Trump returning to the White House is growing again.
Michel is a politician with a very long career in Belgium, despite being 48 years old. Son of former Foreign Minister and European Commissioner Louis Michel, who is in charge of the French-speaking liberal party called the Reform Movement. His younger brother Mathieu Michel is also involved in politics and is State Secretary in the country's federal government.
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Michel's change of mind opens the door for current justice commissioner Didier Reynders – who belongs to the same party despite belonging to a different faction – to opt for the reform movement's electoral list in the European elections. He had already applied for the position. However, when Michel won the race, Reynders, who also had a very long political career in Belgium, asked his government to propose him as the next secretary of the Council of Europe. Alexander de Croo's board has listened to him and Reynders is now the favorite for the position.
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