Estonia’s PM, Kaja Kallas, set to become the EU’s top diplomat, while former Portuguese PM António Costa takes over as president of the European Council

Ursula von der Leyen has clinched the nomination to serve a second term as president of the European Commission, despite Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s complaints of a “wrong” process.

Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, is set to become the EU’s top diplomat, representing the bloc on the world stage for the next five years. The former Portuguese prime minister António Costa has been elected to take over as president of the European Council, putting him in charge of finding compromises between the 27 heads of state and government.

Ukrainian president signs military agreement with EU and says ‘fulfilment of every promise’ of support is important

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has told EU leaders that Russia’s spring offensive in Kharkiv showed that international pressure on the Kremlin was “not enough”, as he signed a military agreement with the bloc.

Vladimir Putin had tried to “expand the war” in May with a new offensive in eastern Ukraine, Zelenskiy said on Thursday, referring to relentless attacks on the Kharkiv region.

Estonian PM Kaja Kallas ‘honoured’ to be nominated as EU’s next foreign policy chief

Daniel Freund, a German Green MEP, has sent a letter with 20,000 signatures to the European Council president calling for the upcoming Hungarian presidency of the Council of the EU to be suspended.

“Together with 20.000 citizens, we, the undersigned Members of the European Parliament, ask you to officially suspend the Hungarian Presidency of the Council, which is currently set to begin on July 1st, 2024,” he wrote.

It would be extremely harmful for the reputation of our Union, if the current Hungarian government would represent us Europeans in any capacity, just after the European elections. The EU has officially frozen funds under the Rule of Law Conditionality Mechanism due to the high levels of corruption in Hungary. Over the years, the Orbán government has also undermined their elections, the Rule of Law, and media freedom in Hungary.

On the European level, the Orbán government has compared the European Union with a dictatorship. They published posters across the country with bombs bearing the EU flag, when sanctions against Russia were passed. At the time when imperialist dictator Putin is bombing Ukraine, an EU candidate country, Orbán went out of his way to China just to be able to shake hands with him.