Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis called on Tuesday the possible appointment of Frans Timmermans as the EU Commission's president a "total catastrophe."
PRAGUE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd July, 2019) Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis called on Tuesday the possible appointment of Frans Timmermans as the EU Commission's president a "total catastrophe."EU leaders resumed talks about who should lead the five EU main institutions earlier on Tuesday, after adjourning them the previous day following an all-night debate. Timmermans, a Dutch center-left deputy to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, has been favored by France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands to lead the EU decision-making body.
"We have a problem with just one name. We said clearly yesterday that we do not want Mr. Timmermans as Commission president. This would be a total catastrophe," Babis told reporters in a doorstep interview.
Babis argued that the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia the so-called Visegrad Four plus Italy accounted for 130 million voters, a quarter of the total, and their interests must be considered.
Eastern European countries do not have a candidate of their own, he said, but will rally behind someone who has a good relationship with the region. Babis stressed that Timmermans had always been in favor of migrant resettlement quotas, something Prague would never back.
