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 men on Friday November 29 in Brussels.
Having frequented the institution as well as the embassies of member states to the European Union (EU) for five years, we knew well that Charles Michel’s services had not convinced those who worked with him on a daily basis. Apart from his close guard, he clearly did not succeed in making himself appreciated by the Council teams, who considered him haughty and irascible.
Nor will he leave a lasting memory with the Twenty-Seven, who have often criticized his chaotic way of conducting meetings of heads of state and government. Not to mention his pronounced taste for private plane travel, the usefulness of which has not always been proven. Nor his execrable relations with the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, which ended up parasitizing the smooth running of the work.
Service minimum
But it must be recognized that nothing has been spared for Charles Michel in recent days. As he takes office on Sunday 1is December, Antonio Costa in fact multiplied his interviews with the press, presenting himself, implicitly, as the counter-model of his predecessor. With him as President of the Council, he assured, the summits will be less interminable and will make more room for strategic debates, while relations with the Commission will be pacified. The Twenty-Seven “all think that there is room for better work”he declared in an interview with Monde.
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Friday, in the hall of the European Council, Charles Michel did the minimum service. After his speech and that of his successor, he, as expected, gave him the bell which opens the summits and symbolizes the authority of the office. He then 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 wander among the small crowd who had gathered for the occasion.
Charles Michel’s office, which knows how sensitive their boss is to compliments, had taken care to prepare a video for him supposed to recount his great times at the head of the council. He had requested the capitals so that each of the twenty-seven European leaders recorded a farewell message which 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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