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The choice of Germany's Ursula von der Leyen to the presidency of the European Commission must be approved by MEPs. REUTERS / Michael Kappeler

Meeting at the summit in Brussels, EU leaders on Tuesday (July 2nd) reached an agreement on the appointments at the head of the EU institutions.

" It's done ", tweeted the Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, before the President of the European Council Donald Tusk publishes the list of names and their photos. It is therefore two men and two women, all French-speaking, who have been chosen to lead the European institutions.

The presidency of the Commission thus falls to German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, a close friend of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel inherits the European Council. While an insistent rumor announced the Slovak Maros Sefcovic at the head of the European diplomacy, it finally returns to the Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borell Fontenelles. Finally, the head of the IMF Christine Lagarde is proposed to the presidency of the ECB.

I am very honored to have been nominated for the Presidency of the ECB. In view of the above, and in consultation with the Board's Ethics Committee, I decided to temporarily leave my duties as Managing Director of the IMF during the nomination period.

Christine Lagarde (@Lagarde) July 2, 2019

It took more than 48 hours of discussions and negotiations to reach this agreement. After a night of futile negotiations between Sunday and Monday, the Twenty-Eight had promised to reach an agreement to avoid being open to criticism of a divided Europe. On the morning of Tuesday, a compromise including the Dutch Frans Timmermans to the Commission. But the four countries of the "Visegrad Group" (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia) opposed the Dutch, responsible, as first vice-president of the Commission, of sanctions procedures against Poland and Hungary on charges of non-compliance with the rule of law.

The choice of Ursula von der Leyen at the head of the Commission must now be approved by the majority of MEPs, who will also elect on Wednesday the President of the European Parliament. A post that could return to the Bulgarian socialist Sergei Stanishev.

(With AFP)