EU nominations reflect Western perception of V4

The nominations for three top posts in the EU structures - the presidents of the European Council and European Central Bank, and chief of EU diplomacy - lack any representative from Central or Eastern Europe and also reflect Western Europe's perception of the Visegrad Four (V4: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia), said Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák (a Smer-SD nominee) after the Government session on Wednesday. This follows a similar statement made earlier in the day by Richard Sulík, head of the Slovak opposition party Freedom and Solidarity (SaS). Lajčák said that he is saddened by this and thinks it is not good for the EU as well, as those countries that joined after 2004 have valuable perspectives that can help balance the EU. The EU summit ended on Tuesday (2 July) with an announcement that German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen was nominated to the position of European Commission President, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel as European Council President, Spain's Josep Borrell as chief of European diplomacy, and France's Christine Lagard as head of the European Central Bank. Lajcak expressed approval of the choice of von der Leyen, saying "personality matters." The nominations must now be voted on by the European Parliament. Slovakia's Maroš Šefčovič, currently a European Commissioner, is the joint candidate of the Visegrad Four for the post of European Commission Vice-president.