EUROPEAN UNION leaders in Brussels remained divided Monday afternoon over who should lead their main institutions.

After the summit convened Sunday evening failed to find a compromise, current European Council President Donald Tusk resorted to bilateral talks.

Tusk and some leaders of EU member states are reportedly supporting Frans Timmermans to be the next president of the European Commission, succeeding Jean-Claude Juncker. A Dutch center-left politician, Timmermans is now commission vice president.

But the proposal has been met with strong opposition from Eastern European states and leaders from the European People’s Party, or EPP, now the biggest political group in the European Parliament following May’s elections.

Four other coveted top posts are the presidencies of the European Council, European Parliament and European Central Bank and the chief of foreign affairs and security policy.

The disagreements between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron have been the key.

Merkel has favored for the commission presidency the lead candidate from the party that won the most seats in the European Parliament.

While the EPP won the most votes in the multinational elections, it does not have a majority in the parliament. It was the first time in 40 years that EPP and the center-left Socialists and Democrats, or S&D, lost their combined majority in the parliament. Timmermans belongs to S&D.

Macron has openly opposed the EPP lead candidate, Manfred Weber, a German politician. Merkel belongs to the EPP bloc and supports Weber.  (China Daily)