EU heads gather to discuss new leadership in wake of far-right election successes – Europe live | European Union

Robert Golob, the Slovenian prime minister, has said that he supports António Costa’s candidacy for European Council president.

“He has lots of experience, lots of wisdom,” he said.

Golob also said he has received “clarifications” on legal issues raised in connection with Costa’s candidacy.

Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, has said it is important for a decision to be made quickly because we are living in difficult times, Reuters reported.

“Given that the political platform that has so far supported President (von der Leyen) in parliament once again has a majority, I believe it will be possible to find a sensible solution quickly,” he said.

He added:

It is important for a decision to be made quickly, because we are living in difficult times and it is important to know what the future holds for Europe.

Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, said when arriving at the summit that “from my perspective, and from a Danish perspective, I think Ursula has done a good and a great job.”

“I think we need a quick decision,” she said, adding: “I’m quite sure that we’ll find a good solution.”

She also dismissed questions about whether she is a contender for a top job.

“No, I’m not a candidate,” she said.

“Slovakia will be a constructive force,” the country’s president, Peter Pellegrini, said when arriving at the summit. Pellegrini is stepping in at the summit for Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, who is recovering after a shooting.

Fico is considered to be the EU’s second-most Kremlin-friendly leader, after Hungary’s Viktor Orbán.

“We are looking for some unity,” Pellegrini said. Without naming Estonia’s Kaja Kallas, the leading contender for the high representative position who is known for her strongly anti-Kremlin views, he said:

We need to be very careful who will represent European Union and the Commission at the international level. And about that we have to discuss, not to make even more tension than it is in reality, we have to have there a person which will be able to calm the situation, which is now extremely under huge tension.

Simon Harris, Ireland’s leader, has arrived for the informal summit.

Speaking to reporters, he said:

It is a statement of fact that president von der Leyen was the lead candidate for the party that did receive the most seats in the election, in the European parliament.

And our discussions will begin tonight. There will be no decisions taken tonight, those decisions will be taken – I hope – at the end of this month.

Because I think it is important that we bring clarity quickly to these matters. We need to get it right, but we also need to do it with a degree of efficiency.

I don’t think there will be any gratitude from Irish citizens or European citizens if politicians here in Brussels are talking for weeks on end about who’s going to do what role, when there are so many pressing issues at European and global level.

He also said that “it’s likely that there’s an emerging consensus around the next president of the European Commission” but stressed that it’s a “process” that is just beginning and that there needs to be a “balanced” package.

Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni held talks ahead of the summit.

Manfred Weber, leader of the centre-right European People’s party, has stressed that the party is lining up behind Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as European Commission president.