Photo: ReutersEuropean Union leaders engaged in a first skirmish on Tuesday over who should become the next chief of the European Commission, giving themselves a short deadline to agree on the bloc's top jobs and a target of assigning half of them to women. Held once every five years, the European Union election means new people will take over key EU institutions, including the powerful executive Commission. Stripped of their longtime combined parliamentary majority, the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) and the centre-left Socialists & Democrats (S&D) would no longer able to decide on the next Commission head alone in the new EU assembly. "We agreed that it is essential for us to show we are capable of action and so we want by the June summit... to have... our proposal for the position of Commission president," Merkel told a news conference. Other big roles up for grabs later this year include the head of the European Parliament and the European Central Bank (ECB), the bloc's foreign policy chief and the head of the European Council who represents national government leaders.

Source: Otago Daily Times May 29, 2019 00:45 UTC