Why the EU is struggling to pick Juncker’s replacement

Who will replace Jean-Claude Juncker? That’s the question being decided at the European Council summit. But so far, things are not going to plan. From Sunday afternoon, leaders – along with Theresa May, who promised to be “constructive” in the debate – have been discussing who should take over the most senior EU jobs, including the successor to Juncker as European Commission president. Now, the meeting has been suspended until tomorrow without any decision made.

Whoever takes over will do so at a key time in the Brexit process. The president will handle the Brexit process on the EU side, whether in terms of making changing to the Political Declaration (which Brussels claims it is open to), negotiating the future relationship with the UK, or leading the Commission’s preparations for a no-deal scenario.

While unanimity is not required to appoint a new president (in 2014, Jean-Claude Juncker was strongly opposed by David Cameron), coming close to that would send a strong political message: that the EU is able to remain united despite Brexit and all the other challenges that it faces.