The President of the European Council Charles Michel announced on Friday that he was finally giving up running in the elections to the European Parliament scheduled for early June, denouncing what he considers to be “personal attacks”.
“I will not be a candidate in the European elections”
Less than three weeks ago, the 48-year-old Belgian official, who has chaired the meetings of heads of state or government of the 27 EU countries for four years, created a surprise by announcing that he intended to leave prematurely. his duties, from July, to devote himself to the European campaign. “Personal attacks are increasingly taking precedence over factual arguments,” he lamented in a text published on Facebook Friday evening.
“I will not be a candidate in the European elections,” he added, emphasizing his desire to carry out his current responsibilities “with determination” until their end. Scheduled for June 6 to 9 in the 27 EU countries, the European elections will lead to a renewal of the heads of the main EU institutions which must reflect the political balance resulting from the ballot.
Charles Michel’s surprise announcement at the beginning of January shook up the calendar, raising thorny questions around his succession and launching, in turn, the race for “top jobs” in Brussels. She had also sparked strong criticism, sometimes coming from her own political camp. “The captain is leaving the ship in the middle of a storm,” said Dutch MEP Sophie in’t Veld, from Renew Europe (centrists and liberals).
Belonging to the same generation of pro-European leaders as the Frenchman Emmanuel Macron and the Luxembourger Xavier Bettel, Charles Michel was chosen in 2019 to succeed the Pole Donald Tusk at the head of the European Council. A prestigious position, but also perilous – often thankless – where the search for consensus requires difficult contortions.