Here’s the Group of Six That Will Decide Who Takes the EU’s Top Jobs

(Bloomberg) -- As deliberations begin on who will lead Europe’s main institutions for the next five years, a Group of Six has formed that will lead the process.

European Union leaders meeting in Brussels on Tuesday avoided discussing names of who they’d like to see take over as head of the European Commission, the European Council and the European Central Bank.

Instead they set out a road map:

• The three groups that won the most votes in last week’s European Parliament elections -- the Christian Democrats, the Socialists, and the Liberals -- each chose two leaders who will negotiate on their behalf, with a target of reaching a consensus before EU leaders meet again in on June 20.
• After an election that saw the Christian Democrats and Socialists lose seats to liberals, greens, and nationalists, no two groups can combine for a majority.

The negotiators for the center-right European People’s Party are Krisjanis Karins, Prime Minister of Latvia, and Andrej Plenkovic, Prime Minister of Croatia. The center-left Socialist group chose Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his Portuguese counterpart Antonio Costa.

The Liberals will be represented by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Belgium’s Prime Minister Charles Michel. These six will consult with European Council President Donald Tusk, who leads the regular gatherings of the leaders.

Belgian leaders have often found themselves as a sort of swing vote between northern and southern Europe, while the EPP’s choices give a larger voice to the EU’s new members in the east. Sanchez and Costa are among the few center-left leaders in Europe to have made gains in recent elections.

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.