Taoiseach Enda Kenny and outgoing Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore fly to Brussels today to meet European counterparts as EU leaders gather for the first time to consider the election of the next president of the European Commission.
While the Taoiseach attends a meeting of the European People's Party this afternoon in advance of an informal dinner for heads of state later this evening, Mr Gilmore will attend a meeting of the Party of European Socialists, which represents the group of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), of which the Labour Party is a member.
A spokeswoman for Mr Gilmore said his attendance had been planned for some time.
EU leaders are meeting for the first time since the European elections, to discuss the outcome of the elections and to consider the election of José Manuel Barroso’s successor.
British prime minister David Cameron phoned Mr Kenny on Sunday, as well as five other EU leaders, ahead of this evening's summit at which leaders will consider the election of the next European Commission president. Britain is one of a number of countries opposed to the so-called 'Spitzenkandidat' system which advocates that the next European Commission president should be nominated by the European Parliament.
"It is clear that other leaders share the PM's view that the European Council has a clear mandate in the treaty to nominate the next President of the European Commission and it is important to follow that procedure," a Downing Street spokesman said.
Candidates nominated
For the first time, the main political groups in the European Parliament nominated candidates for
commission president ahead of the elections. Provisional results indicate the European People's Party (EPP), which includes Fine Gael and German chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party, won 213 of the 751 seats in the parliament, with the S&D candidates securing 186 and the liberal group Alde in third place with 70.
Speaking yesterday in Brussels, EPP candidate Jean- Claude Juncker said the results showed the EPP had "won" the election, and he fully expected to become the next commission president. But the S&D group, whose candidate is European Parliament president Martin Schulz, has stressed the successful candidate must have the support of a majority of MEPs. Neither Mr Schulz nor Guy Verhoftadt, Alde's candidate, backed Mr Juncker on Sunday night following the election.
The heads of the main European parties are due to meet this morning. European Council president Herman Van Rompuy who is chairing the talks, said it would be "too early to decide about names" at this evening's meeting.
Spitzenkandidat
A number of countries, including the UK
, the Netherlands and Hungary, are opposed to the "Spitzenkandidat" (which means the top candidate or party list leader) system, and are believed to be unhappy with Mr Juncker as a candidate.
The Lisbon Treaty says the European Council “must take account of” the result of the European election when choosing the president of the commission, but a number of member states dispute this obliges them to select the parliament’s chosen candidate.
In a boost for Mr Juncker, Dr Merkel appeared to back the former Luxembourg prime minister’s candidacy yesterday.
“We had a good election campaign with the pan-European lead candidate Jean- Claude Juncker, who is our candidate for European Commission president,” she said in Berlin.
Mr Kenny is still being mentioned as a possible contender for the post of European Council president, a position that will also be filled this summer.
Although final results are still coming in for the European elections, an unprecedented rise in support for anti-EU and protest parties was the dominant trend of the elections, with staunchly Eurosceptic parties topping the polls in a number of countries including Britain, France and Denmark.
