New EU leadership eyes more assertive role for bloc

BRUSSELS: The European Union plans a bigger global role for itself, one of its new chiefs emphasised on Friday as the bloc’s leadership started changing the guard to a team with firm geopolitical ambitions.

The time has come for the EU to become more “confident, self-assured and assertive” on the world stage, notably by building common defence and security structures, said Charles Michel, taking over as the new European Council president.

His pledge matches the ambition voiced by French President Emmanuel Macron, who argues Europe should have defence capabilities to match its economic heft.

It also echoes the next head of the European Commission, former German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen, saying she wants to oversee a “geopolitical” EU executive. She takes charge from Sunday, succeeding Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.

Green ‘leader’

The aspiration also feeds into von der Leyen’s goal of a zero-carbon future, which will demand a rethinking of economic, technological and societal priorities.

Michel, a 43-year-old former Belgian prime minister, underlined his lockstep with the Commission, saying: “I want Europe to become the global leader of the green movement.” He took over from Donald Tusk as the chief of the European Council, which represents the national leaders of EU member states who have final say over much of the bloc’s business.

Tusk, 62 and a former Polish prime minister, was applauded at length during the simple handover ceremony with Michel, during which a small bell was rung and passed over in a symbolic transition of office. The accolade, which brought Tusk to the brink of tears, reflected his five-year run dousing various EU crises, from Greece’s near-exit from the eurozone to jihadist attacks in several countries and a migration crisis.

But Tusk is to remain deeply involved in EU politics. He is to become the leader of the European family of conservative parties across the bloc, the European People’s Party, which is the biggest grouping in the European Parliament.