New frontrunner emerges to take powerful Council top job
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A new name has emerged as the leading candidate to take on the highly powerful role of secretary-general of the Council of the European Union: Thérèse Blanchet.
According to five officials, Blanchet, who leads the Council’s legal service, has become a late contender to take over as secretary-general — one of the faceless powerbrokers that help Brussels function. The Council’s secretary-general sits in the room when EU leaders meet, takes part in drafting leaders’ decisions and has a say on all important topics.
The job has been vacant since March, when the Council’s previous secretary-general, Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen, stepped down to become the top civil servant at the foreign ministry in Denmark, his home country.
The race to replace Tranholm-Mikkelsen has exposed underlying tensions between the EU’s western and eastern members, especially as Russia’s war in Ukraine has given eastern countries greater say. In the meantime, the delay in finding a replacement has embarrassed many officials and diplomats.
Now, Blanchet has entered the race as a late, compromise candidate amid the East-West tussle.
Several western capitals have been backing the French ambassador to the EU, Philippe Léglise-Costa, as their preferred candidate. Some diplomats said French President Emmanuel Macron pushed for him.
But the European Council President Charles Michel has resisted Léglise-Costa’s appointment, wary after several countries pushed back strongly, the diplomats added.
As an alternative to Léglise-Costa, several eastern members and Baltic states supported another experienced ambassador, Matti Maasikas, who served in Brussels as Estonia’s ambassador to the EU and is now the EU’s ambassador in Ukraine.
Another contender for the Council’s secretary-general role is the former Romanian ambassador to the EU, Luminiţa Odobescu. A French speaker who is well versed in EU affairs, Odobescu would have the advantage of coming from Central Europe. At a certain point, her name was gaining momentum, but two diplomats said Paris stopped it.
Michel is expected to propose Blanchet’s name to EU leaders when they meet in Prague on Thursday and Friday. There is no concrete timeline for making a final decision, however.
