Good morning from Brussels, 

EU leaders needed an hour to agree on the next leadership of the EU institutions: centre-right EPP’s Ursula von der Leyen for the EU Commission presidency, socialist Antonio Costa for EU Council lead and liberal Kaja Kallas for EU’s new foreign policy chief.

The final mission for von der Leyen is to get a simple majority (361 votes) through a secret ballot in the 720-seat EU Parliament. 

The pro-EU coalition (EPP, S&D, Renew) currently has 399 votes, which is theoretically enough for her election. However, not all these MEPs, including her own centre-right political family, are expected to vote for her. 

Therefore, she will need to fish for votes from both the left and the right.

On the right, she has the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR), led by Italian leader Giorgia Meloni. Frustrated with her isolation from the top jobs’ selection, the hard-right politician abstained from the vote for von der Leyen at the EU summit yesterday. 

On the left, she has the Greens, a seemingly safer option as socialists and liberals do not want von der Leyen to collaborate with the hard right.  

Read here the whole story.

The EU requires €500 billion in defence investments over the next decade, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told EU leaders on Thursday, as the bloc searches for ways to ramp up funding for its new top priority.  

Between 1999 and 2021, EU member states increased their defence spending by 20%, China by 600% and Russia by 300%. Aurélie Pugnet has the story.

On foreign policy, EU leaders warned that Georgia’s EU accession has ‘de facto’ been halted after the country’s authorities passed a controversial Russia-style ‘foreign agent’ law. 

Controversy over last-minute changes to the Strategic Agenda: Afp quoted an EU diplomat as saying that France and Germany proposed some 20 additional changes at the very last minute to the Strategic Agenda, the key policy roadmap for the EU’s next leadership. 

Euractiv was informed that the Franco-German move displeased other leaders. Particularly, Greek sources said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (EPP) reacted strongly, raising issues of principle and institutional procedure. 

The centre-right politician recalled that the text had been discussed at length in Coreper and asked it to remain as it is, without major amendments. Meloni backed him up, as did a majority of EU leaders, including those from Cyprus, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Luxembourg, Finland, Estonia, Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Belgium.

Last but not least, the car industry has warned EU leaders against reversing the 2035 combustion engine ban.

BERLIN | PARIS

France’s far-right Rassemblement National (RN, ID) of Marine Le Pen seeks to reassure that nothing will change in the Franco-German relationship if a prime minister from their ranks takes over in France, trying to address fears that the EU’s engine could grind to a halt. Read more.

Macron nominates Breton for Commission, media reports. France’s President Emmanuel Macron will try to nominate Thierry Breton for the European Commission, angling for an expanded portfolio around economic security and defence, Le Monde reported on Thursday. Read more.

European federalist movement Volt presents 22 candidates for French parliamentary election. After winning five MEPs in the recent European elections, the Volt party is putting forward 22 candidates for the legislative elections in France, particularly in constituencies reserved for French citizens living abroad, hoping to help counter the far-right surge. Read more.

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BERLIN

German farmers’ association slams government relief package. In response to the farmer protests that rocked Europe earlier this year, the governing parliamentary groups in Germany have agreed to introduce a relief package for the agriculture sector, amid dissatisfaction from farmers’ organisation. Read more.

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BRUSSELS

Errors cast shadow on first-time voters in Belgium’s triple elections. Human errors were made in the triple election that took place in Belgium on 9 June, according to experts, which granted 16-17 year-olds, who were allowed to vote only in the European elections, to also vote in federal and regional elections. Read more.

LONDON

Support for Farage’s Reform UK party drops after Ukraine comments. Support for Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK party has fallen ahead of the 4 July election, a poll showed on Thursday, after he said the West had provoked Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Read more.

ROME

After weeks of silence from Fratelli d’Italia (FdI) over an investigation that revealed members of the party’s youth group praising Mussolini and far-right terrorists during their meetings, Senate President Ignazio La Russa condemned their actions while Giorgia Meloni has yet to comment. Read more.

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MADRID

Spanish centre-right leader suggests Sánchez may hold snap elections in October. The leader of centre-right Partido Popular (PP/EPP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, said on Thursday that Spain’s leader Pedro Sánchez could call snap elections this year due to his ‘weak progressive coalition’, which depends on support from Catalan and Basque separatists. Read more.

BRATISLAVA

The Slovak parliament passed on Thursday (June 27) the so-called “Lex Assassination”, a widely criticised package of measures that the ruling coalition claims should improve the security situation in Slovakia following the assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico. Read more.

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WARSAW

ECR saved as PiS reaches compromise with Fratelli d’Italia: Polish media. Poland’s conservative PiS party has reached an agreement with Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia (FdI) about the division of key posts within their EU political family, the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR), Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported on Thursday. Read more.

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PRAGUE

Czechia’s Babiš says new anti-migration, anti-Green Deal EU Parliament group in sight. The head of the Czech ANO movement, former prime minister Andrej Babiš, has said that his party, which quit the Liberals’ ranks last week, is establishing a new group in the European Parliament – but it is still unclear with whom he will team up. Read more.

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BUDAPEST

LEAK: Hungary’s agenda for the Environment, Energy and Transport Council meetings. Euractiv has seen the Hungarian EU presidency’s detailed plans for the Environment, Energy and Transport Council meetings in the second half of 2024, which outline when Budapest plans to advance individual existing legislative proposals, agree a COP29 position, and present its plans for geothermal energy. Read more.

Language rights of Hungarian minority in Ukraine at the heart of Kyiv-Budapest spat. As the European Union launches accession negotiations with Ukraine, Hungary’s presidency of the EU Council from 1 July to 31 December risks stalling the process, with minority rights being the key point of contention. Read more.

SOFIA

In a rebuke to the Bulgarian government’s framework position in support of Ukraine, President Rumen Radev has refused to attend July’s NATO summit in Washington. Read more.

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ZAGREB

Ten war victims found in mass grave at Croatian garbage dump, more expected. Excavators dug through piles of waste at a garbage dump surrounded by sunflower fields in Croatia on Thursday, searching for bodies of victims killed in war more than three decades ago, after remains of 10 people were found earlier this month. Read more.

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[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Chris Powers, Alice Taylor]