Subscribe here: https://bit.ly/eudebates European Council President Charles Michel’s plan to run in EU parliamentary elections risks impeding Reynders’ chances to stay on at the European Commission. EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders is hoping to become the next secretary-general of the Council of Europe, the international human rights organization, which would mark a hiatus in his career in EU politics.
The news, which was first reported by Belgian media outlets Le Soir and De Tijd, was confirmed to POLITICO by a Belgian official and a member of the Belgian liberals of the Reformist Movement (MR), Reynders’ party.
The Council of Europe is an international organization which has its headquarters in France and is not a part of the institutions of the European Union, which include the European Council and the Council of the EU.
The 65-year-old Reynders, who is currently the Belgian commissioner in the European executive, had earlier expressed interest in staying on in the next European Commission. But over the weekend, European Council President Charles Michel said he would be running for the European parliamentary election in June for their party. This risks impeding any chance for Reynders to stay on.
Reynders now hopes the Belgian government, a coalition of seven parties including MR, will this week officially nominate him as a candidate for the Council of Europe position. Chances are high that this will happen, the Belgian official said.
In Belgian politics, Michel and Reynders have been known for a long-running feud for control of their party, which culminated in 2010 when Reynders was ousted from the MR leadership.
“It won’t be impossible that Charles Michel will push for Reynders to stand a chance [at the Council of Europe] so he’s out of his way for the next five years,” said the member of the MR, who was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.
The current secretary-general of the Council of Europe is Marija Pejčinović Burić, who started her five year mandate in 2019. Reynders was an official candidate for the job in 2019, but lost the race to the former Croatian politician.
The EU’s 27 heads of government now have less than six months to name his successor. The President’s role involves chairing European Council meetings and brokering agreements among member states, including on sensitive budget and foreign policy decisions.
According to EU treaties, in the absence of a president, the country that holds the six-month rotating presidency of the Council takes on caretaker responsibility. This means that without a successor, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán would take control of the Council when his country’s takes on the rotating presidency on 1 July.
A European Council source brushed off the potential disruption of Michel’s surprise announcement, saying that the decision on his successor was “due to happen in June 2024.”
“It is therefore possible to have the next president of the European Council starting his duty in summer 2024, if the European Council decides so,” the source said.
June’s European elections will trigger a reshuffle of Brussels’ top jobs, but the process sometimes takes months due to the intricate nature of discussions and the need to ensure political, geographical and gender balance between appointments.
Criticism against Michel mounts
Many have denounced Michel for a move that will throw a shadow of uncertainty over the Council during a politically pivotal moment.
Speaking to Euronews, Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet Professor of European Union Law at HEC Paris said that Michel’s decision risks triggering a “constitutional crisis.”
“As Michel abruptly ends his mandate at the most critical moment when the powers of the council are at their peak (…) he is set to become a lame duck president with little authority,” Alemanno explained.
“This is really terra incognita,” he said, adding that Michel was pursuing “his own self-interest” rather than wider European Union interests.
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