António Costa, who was part of the European Council representing Portugal for eight years (during which time he was Prime Minister), already knows some of the EU leaders, but intends, in his two and a half year mandate, to find points of convergence for commitments among the 27
The outgoing president of the European Council, Charles Michel, passes the baton today to his successor, the former Portuguese prime minister, António Costa, in a ceremony in Brussels, attended by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
Aimed mainly at employees of the European Council – the institution made up of the heads of government and state of the European Union (EU) and which defines community political guidelines and priorities –, the ceremony will take place at 2 pm (local time, minus one hour in Lisbon) in the headquarters building, in the Belgian capital.
On the occasion, the outgoing president of the European Council, Charles Michel, will hand over the testimony to António Costa, the first Portuguese and first socialist to assume leadership of the institution, whose two and a half year mandate officially begins on Sunday.
Speeches from both representatives are planned.
As for other participants in the ceremony, the presence of the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, with whom António Costa maintains a good relationship is also expected, unlike what happened with Charles Michel, with whom several conflicts were reported in five years of mandate.
António Costa begins his duties on Sunday with the intention of improving the institution’s working method during his two and a half years in office, namely by organizing informal retreats to improve political cooperation between EU leaders.
The idea is, according to a European source, to make the work of the European Council more effective, particularly in European summits, which, due to this more regular contact, now have a format of just one day instead of the usual two (with exceptions for topics more divisive, such as the community budget).
António Costa’s first European summit is scheduled for December 19th.
António Costa, who was part of the European Council representing Portugal for eight years (during which time he was Prime Minister), already knows some of the EU leaders, but intends, in his two and a half year mandate, to find points of convergence for commitments between 27.
Before starting his duties, in the summer and early autumn he carried out a tour of 25 European capitals to meet in person with the EU heads of government and state to learn more about their perspectives and priorities for the next institutional cycle in the community space.
The only reason he did not visit Bulgaria and Romania was because they were during election periods.
He succeeds Belgian Charles Michel, who has held the position since 2019 and ends his term on November 30, in a period marked by crises such as the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union (a process known as ‘Brexit’), the coronavirus pandemic, covid-19, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and, more recently, the rekindling of tensions in the Middle East.
