Metsola praises Costa’s leadership in the European Council and rejects interference

The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, praised today the “fantastic leadership” of former Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa at the European Council for “taking his role seriously,” and rejected any interference of his powers in international European representation.
“I can tell you that I have been working with President Costa for a long time, since he was Prime Minister, and the way he manages the European Council is fantastic,” said the leader of the European assembly in an interview with Lusa and other agencies as part of the European Newsroom project, on the sidelines of the plenary session in the French city of Strasbourg.
“He takes his role seriously, and I can tell you that the heads of government and state [within the European Council] appreciate that. They appreciate someone they can work with and someone who likes this Parliament [European], who was a member of this Parliament, was even a vice-president of this Parliament, and knows the institutional balance and how it works,” she listed.
When confronted with criticisms regarding the fact that the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has already represented the European Union at the highest diplomatic and political level instead of António Costa, Roberta Metsola said that she “does not” agree that there is an interference of powers.
In Brussels, some question why Ursula von der Leyen sometimes represents the EU at a high political and diplomatic level when this role belongs to the President of the European Council.
This happened, for example, in August, during meetings in Washington aimed at a ceasefire on Ukrainian soil.
“Last week, I had breakfast with all the ambassadors [permanent representatives of the Member States to the EU]. My home institution is the Council – I spent 10 years there – and I can tell you that the atmosphere is good, it is working, and it is being managed,” Roberta Metsola also told Lusa and the other agencies of the European Newsroom.
“That is clear and evident,” she concluded.
On December 1, 2024, António Costa began his two-and-a-half-year term at the head of the European Council, being the first socialist and Portuguese in this position.
Also last December, Ursula von der Leyen (of the center-right) began her second term leading the community executive and will, on Wednesday, deliver her first speech on the State of the Union of the new legislature and the fifth overall of her European journey.
The President of the European Council is currently and until the end of next week visiting the EU Member States to hear community leaders about the war in Ukraine, the community budget, and trade partnerships.