EU leaders confront eurosceptic surge, wrangle over top jobs

EU leaders began haggling Tuesday over who should take over the reins of the bloc’s executive while beginning a process of soul-searching after eurosceptic parties made gains in last week’s European elections.

“The European Union cannot just shrug off these results and carry on as before. We need change,” said British Prime Minister David Cameron at the start of the Brussels talks.

His Conservative Party was pushed into third place by a victory for the anti-EU UK Independence Party.

“We need an approach that recognises that Brussels has got too big, too bossy, too interfering,” Cameron said. “It should be nation states wherever possible, Europe only where necessary.” French President Francois Hollande said Europe must draw lessons out of his country’s elections, in which almost one in four French voters chose the far-right Front National — leaving his ruling Socialists trailing in third place.

“The message is not to make policies against Europe, but to make policies through which people can recognise themselves in Europe,” Hollande said, calling for the bloc to refocus on growth, employment, energy and protecting its borders.

“It’s our obligation, of all European leaders, to change Europe, because people requested it in the elections,” newly re-elected Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was one of the few EU leaders bolstered by a win at the polls.

“Who wants to save Europe, has to change Europe,” he said. “And I think today’s discussion went in the right direction.” One opportunity for change will be the appointment of the new president of the European Commission. The EU’s executive helps shape the bloc’s direction by proposing new legislation and ensuring that existing laws are upheld.

Former Luxembourg premier Jean-Claude Juncker has laid claim to the post, after his centre-right European People’s Party won the most seats in the European Parliament.

He would need the majority backing of both parliament and the member states. Parliamentary leaders agreed Tuesday that Juncker should be given the first chance to rally the necessary support.

The bloc’s leaders later gave EU President Herman Van Rompuy a mandate to negotiate with the parliament in coming weeks. Several leaders have expressed scepticism over the process that saw Juncker nominated as one of five lead candidates for the post.

The notion of lead candidates “twists the constitution around; it disqualifies many from running for this position,” Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeld argued.

There is “no automatic connection between the outcome of the election and the nomination (of commission president),” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed the need for a “broad majority,” as no party has an absolute majority in parliament, while Hollande said that the Socialists’ standardbearer, outgoing Parliament president Martin Schulz, could still win the necessary support.

“I don’t exclude, or include, anything,” Merkel said at the end of Tuesday’s working dinner.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann cautioned his peers against quarreling over the appointment, “Many voters will be paying close attention to see if there was a point in going to vote.” The process could drag on for weeks or months, with several other top posts up for grabs, including those held by Van Rompuy and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

A row with the parliament could complicate matters further, just as the bloc is emerging from deep economic woes.

“Europe is not strong enough to have new crises,” Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said. “An institutional crisis now would be really a bad sign from us.”

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