EU Commissioner Reynders eyes Council of Europe top job

The Belgian federal government will decide on Wednesday whether to support the candidacy of Belgian EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders to become the next secretary general of the Council of Europe.

The news, first reported by Belgian newspaper La Libre, came after European Council President Charles Michel announced on 6 January that he would lead the European elections lists for the liberal party Mouvement Réformateur (MR), also Reynders’ party.

With only two seats projected for his MR party, Michel’s move seriously hampered Reynders’ shot at entering the European Parliament or repeating his tenure as European Commissioner for Belgium.

Reynders already tried to secure the top job at the Strasbourg-based human rights body in 2019 when he was Belgium’s deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs and defence but was ousted by Croatia’s former foreign minister, Marija Pejcinovic Buric, who won the vote with more than 50 votes advantage.

Once nominated by the Belgian government, he would need to garner the support of a majority of the 46 Council of Europe member states, with the final vote scheduled for June.

It is unclear whether he will leave his post before September 2024, when his five-year tenure as secretary general would start if elected, following the example of other Commissioners who jumped ship ahead of the Commission’s top job reshuffle after the EU elections in June.

Other now-former commissioners have recently stepped down from their EU posts to focus on national politics, with former Culture Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, now Bulgaria’s foreign minister, and former EU Green Deal commissioner Frans Timmermans, now leader of the Dutch opposition, having respectively resigned in May and August last year.

At the same time, Denmark’s Margrethe Vestager stepped down from her competition portfolio in September to campaign for the European Investment Bank (EIB) presidency but has now resumed her duties after losing out to Spanish Economy Minister Nadia Calviño.

Most recently, Finland’s Jutta Urpilainen, Commissioner for International Partnerships, left her post to run for Finland’s presidential elections on 28 January despite discouraging polls.

(Max Griera | Euractiv.com)

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