EU’s Michel to Run for European Parliament Seat in June Vote

Alexandre Rajbhandari and Lyubov Pronina
·2 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Charles Michel, president of the European Council, will seek a seat in the European Parliament in elections scheduled for June and step down from his current role early if elected.

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Michel, who runs the meetings of the 27 European Union leaders, plans to head the slate for Belgium’s liberal Reformist Movement party, he said in an interview with local media on Saturday.

The move will likely upend the process to choose the EU’s top jobs following the election, which always involves horse trading among the largest parties. The center-right EPP, the progressive S&D and liberal Renew currently hold the most seats. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a member of the EPP, hasn’t said if she’ll seek another term running the bloc’s executive arm.

“I want to serve the European project,” said Michel, a former prime minister of Belgium. “I want to continue to work for the European unity and, above all, the European strength.”

If elected, Michel, 48, will step down from his current role in July, before his term is scheduled to end in November. Under EU rules, the role could be assumed in the interim by the chair of the Council of the European Union, which will then be Hungary.

Playing down such concerns after a meeting of his party on Sunday, Michel said in an interview that: “everyone should be pleased and excited” that European leaders “want to be accountable.”

The bloc could also anticipate Michel’s election and pick a successor sooner, he said in the interview. The European Council will meet twice in June, when a new leader can be chosen.

Citizens of 27 EU countries will go to the polls in early June to choose 720 members of Parliament.

(Updates with additional Michel quote in the sixth paragraph.)

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