On the applause meter, Antonio Costa won. The former Portuguese Prime Minister, who succeeds Charles Michel as President of the European Council, was even acclaimed on the occasion of the transfer of power between the two on Friday, November 29 in Brussels.
After having frequented the institution and the embassies of the Member States of the European Union (EU) for five years, we were well aware that Charles Michel’s services had not convinced those who worked with him on a daily basis. Apart from his tight guard, he clearly failed to make himself appreciated by the Council teams, who considered him haughty and irascible.
Nor will he leave a lasting memory in the Twenty-seven, who have often criticized his chaotic way of running meetings of heads of state and government. Not to mention his marked taste for private plane travel, the usefulness of which has not always been demonstrated. Nor his execrable relations with the president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, which ended up parasitizing the proper functioning of the work.
Minimum service
But it must be recognized that Charles Michel has not been spared anything in recent days. When he takes office on Sunday the 1stAhem In December, Antonio Costa actually multiplied his interviews with the press, presenting himself, implicitly, as the countermodel of his predecessor. With him as president of the Council, he assured, the summits will be less endless and will give more space to strategic debates, while relations with the Commission will be pacified. The twenty seven “We all think there is room to work better”declared in an interview with World.
On Friday, in the European Council room, Charles Michel did the minimum service. After his speech and that of his successor, as expected, he gave him the bell that opens the summits and symbolizes the authority of the position. Then he disappeared, without considering it necessary to shake the hands of the diplomats who had made the trip. Even less to greet Ursula von der Leyen, whom Antonio Costa had invited to show his interlocutors that a new era is beginning. The Portuguese, for his part, took the time to walk among the small crowd that had gathered for the occasion.
Charles Michel’s office, which knows how sensitive its boss is to praise, had been in charge of preparing a video for him that would supposedly recount his greatest moments at the head of the council. He had asked the capitals to have each of the twenty-seven European leaders record a farewell message that could appear there. The film was screened on November 8 to close the last summit attended by Charles Michel, in Budapest.
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