EU summit strikes deal on top job despite Meloni's objections

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00:00For Europe editor Armin Jorgen, standing by in Brussels. We can speak to him now. Hello to you, Armin.

00:05How this vote played out was interesting. What was your reading on it?

00:14Well, the vote of Georgia Maloney on Kayakallas is perhaps the most interesting one because, of course,

00:22Georgia Maloney has presented herself as a

00:25reliable pro-Ukraine element within the EU and the G7. And

00:31by voting against Kayakallas, she's sending a signal on

00:35her commitment to Ukraine, in a sense, to other EU leaders. So that vote of Georgia Maloney's, it might play well with some Italian voters,

00:43but it might have perhaps

00:46impacted her image with other EU leaders when it comes to Ukraine.

00:50When we look at Viktor Orban,

00:53no real surprise that he voted against Ursula von der Leyen.

00:57There's so much bad blood between his Fidesz party and von der Leyen's European People's Party.

01:03And also the fact, of course, that Hungary and the European Commission, which I'm standing next to here, has had so many run-ins.

01:09They've had so many run-ins on the rule of law.

01:12So that wasn't really surprising. But, of course, then

01:17Viktor Orban voting for the socialist Antonio Costa to lead the EU Council, which was also an interesting twist.

01:25And Armin, the leaders also agreed to the bloc's strategic priorities for the next five years. What can you tell us on that?

01:34Well, the strategic agenda is a kind of compass which is intended to keep the ship going in the same direction,

01:42even if the ship is sort of thrown about by stormy weather.

01:46So the strategic agenda is always set at this last EU Council of every five-year mandate.

01:52And it's intended to guide the next, the incoming mandate.

01:57Because, as you know, Will, we've just had these European elections and the three main institutions are being renewed.

02:04And we know that France and Germany were pushing particularly hard to have their points fixed on this strategic agenda.

02:13Perhaps worth noting their desire to further develop the Green Deal, which has come under pressure increasingly in the last few months.

02:21They also want a stronger and more capable defence.

02:26There are other areas I can mention.

02:27But I think if we just look at those two, they're particularly important because, of course, defence spending might come under pressure,

02:37potentially as the next big European budget is negotiated.

02:42And the Green Deal, as I said, it's come under pressure from various kind of anti-Green Deal political forces.

02:49But also we have this incoming Hungarian presidency of the EU at the beginning of July,

02:55which does not see eye to eye with France and Germany or several other EU countries on these key issues of European defence spending.

03:05And, of course, the green transition.

03:08So I think even though the strategic agenda, as I said, is traditionally set at this point in the whole process,

03:15the timing is particularly important given this incoming Hungarian presidency of the EU.

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