EU chief Charles Michel to run in European Parliament elections in June

By Ata Ufuk Seker

BRUSSELS (AA) - EU Council President Charles Michel has said he will run for the European Parliament election in June and will leave his post mid-July if he gets elected, according to Belgian media.

"I have decided to run as a candidate in the 2024 European elections," Michel said in an interview with newspaper De Standaard.

If he is elected as an European Parliament member, Michel said he would continue his current duties until the swearing-in ceremony in mid-July and then step down.

Michel promised that he would fully comply with the EU's ethical rules during the election campaign and that EU leaders could decide on his replacement at the end of June or the beginning of July.

It is for the first time that a sitting EU Council president will be a candidate for European Parliament elections.

Michel, who will run as a candidate from the Francophone Liberals (MR) party in Belgium, was originally expected to continue his term until the end of November when the new commission would be formed.

Michel, who took office on Dec. 1, 2019, had previously served as Belgium's prime minister.

European Parliament elections will be held in EU member countries on June 6-9.

A total of 720 members, including 22 from Belgium, will be elected for the European Parliament's five-year term.

On June 17 and June 27-28, EU leaders will hold a summit, where the new EU Council president will be named.

If EU leaders cannot decide on the new council president, Viktor Orban, prime minister of Hungary, which will assume the EU Council term presidency as of July, will assume the role of the council's president then.

The duties of the EU Council president include chairing meetings, presenting reports at meetings, setting agendas, assisting in achieving consensus within the EU, and representing the union at the leaders' level externally.

*Writing by Aysu Bicer in London