Meloni is furious at the EU’s centrist stitch-up

The European Union has reached an agreement on the bloc’s political leadership for the next five years – and in the process again demonstrated that ineptitude is no barrier to promotion.

The 27 leaders of the EU have reappointed Ursula von der Leyen as president of the European Commission. Estonian Kaja Kallas is the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and António Costa has been nominated as president of the European Council.

The nominations of von der Leyen and Kallas must be ratified by the European Parliament next month but Costa, the former Socialist prime minister of Portugal, has been endorsed by his peers and will take office on 1 December.

Kallas and Costas have been mired in scandal in recent months. There were calls for the Estonian PM to resign last year when it was revealed her husband still had business interests in Russia, despite her demands that companies in Estonia stop operations in Russia. Kallas told the Estonian parliament she had no knowledge of her husband’s activities.