Sentence | Shōmei
Edit| Zhaoming
"He behaved like the captain who abandoned ship in a storm. ”
On January 7, EU Council President Charles Michel abruptly announced his resignation, triggering widespread dissatisfaction among EU member states.
However, it is good news for us, because Michelle is gone, and the next person is likely to be the pro-China leader.
According to the regulations, Michelle's term will not end until November this year, so why is he in such a hurry?
It turned out that Michelle had been re-elected for two terms, and according to the regulations, it was forbidden to be re-elected for a third term, and Marshall is only 48 years old now, in the prime of life, and he is naturally ambitious to find a better way out.
Michel has set his sights on the European Parliament elections to be held in June this year, in which more than 400 million voters from 27 countries in the European Union will elect 720 MPs, who will then decide who will be elected to the next major positions in the EU.
In other words, once Michelle is elected, his political life will have a second life, and he can compete for more powerful positions.
In order to run for this election, Michel submitted his resignation early, and he wanted to use the next few months to make adequate preparations, but his sudden move did catch EU leaders a little off guard.
Belgian radio station RTBF, citing experts, said:
The president of the Council of the European Union usually takes office on December 1, and there is no precedent for leaving office six months early, so the EU has no precedent for it.
The election was in June, and Michel's term ended at the end of November, but he is now resigning, which has made EU countries widely dissatisfied with him, and have accused him of being a "deserter".
In fact, it's no wonder that others think about it, after all, the EU is in troubled and troubled today.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been fought from February 2022 to the present and there is no sign of stopping, and the EU has paid a huge price in order to aid Ukraine.
In the Middle East, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has not yet ended, and Iran has to compete with the United States and Western countries, and the EU is bound to devote considerable energy to the Middle East.
In addition, the EU has also followed the trend of the United States in its China policy, repeatedly sanctioning China, and in October 2023, the EU also launched a countervailing investigation into China's new battery electric vehicles in an attempt to curb the entry of Chinese electric vehicles into the European market.
It can be said that it is a critical juncture for them to employ people, and now Michel suddenly announced his resignation without saying hello in advance.
How should the affairs of the EU Council be handled next? Choosing an heir is not a matter that can be accomplished overnight, and many people in EU countries have become dissatisfied with him.
Michelle was also a little panicked at this time, after all, once a bad image appeared in the hearts of the people, it would also have a negative impact on his next election.
As a result, Michel made a statement to defend himself shortly after announcing his resignation, saying that he had submitted an application for early resignation to the EU leaders on the 6th, and he had greeted him in advance. Michel also said that the EU has ample time to choose his replacement.
However, his rhetoric is clearly too pale, according to the schedule, the results of the election of MEPs will be announced on June 9, and if elected, he will step down as president of the EU Council on July 16 at the latest.
That is, the time left for EU leaders to elect a new heir is only five weeks. At a time when EU leaders have not yet made a psychological plan, time is clearly running out.
What worries many EU leaders even more is that the most likely successor is a pro-China politician.
This person is Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
It turns out that Hungary will hold the EU presidency in the second half of this year, and if EU leaders fail to elect a new candidate in time, there will be a high probability that Orban will take over the presidency of the EU Council.
Orban is a doer, and he knows that being friendly to China and strengthening cooperation with China is conducive to promoting the development of the European Union, so once he is elected, it is very likely that the sanctions imposed by the European Union against China will be lifted, which is obviously what those pro-American EU leaders do not want to see.
Not only that, Orban has also been firmly opposed to the EU continuing to provide aid to Ukraine, previously, he vetoed the EU's plan to aid Ukraine 50 billion euros, if Orban is elected, then the EU will inevitably significantly reduce or even stop aid to Ukraine, which is also what some EU leaders do not want to see.
In the eyes of these EU leaders, Orban is a "thorn" who works against everyone everywhere, and many people are dissatisfied with him, but now Michelle suddenly resigns, and EU leaders cannot unanimously elect a new candidate at the first time.
At that time, the EU's major policy will inevitably change to a great extent, and not to mention the EU itself, the US Government, which is bent on sanctioning Russia and China, will certainly not want to see it, and the United States will inevitably intervene at that time, and the EU's autonomy will be further eroded.
It can be seen that one stone stirred up a thousand waves, Michelle's move has caused the EU political arena to fall into a panic, which will also be a big blow to the EU's image on the international stage, Michel has to face overwhelming criticism every day, and I don't know if he will regret making this hasty decision.
It's just that the matter has come to this point, and regret will not help, he can only grit his teeth and continue to run for the European Parliament, and with his performance in the EU in the previous two terms, there is still a good probability of being elected.
As for whether Orban can succeed Michel as the next president of the European Council, it is still unknown from the current point of view, after all, there are not a few voices against him.
Krischweig, a visiting professor at the Chemnitz University of Technology in Germany, said that "the overall direction of the EU is still firmly in favor of arming Ukraine, and with Orban's current attitude of 'doing everything right', it is obviously difficult to take over Michel's position for the time being!"
Of course, for us, we still hope that Orban can take over, after all, the cooperation between China and the EU is beneficial to both sides.