Gulyas warns against haste in selecting EU leaders

Prime Minister's Office chief Gergely Gulyas, at a regular press briefing on Thursday, underlined the importance of electing new European Union leaders as quickly as possible, adding that getting the right people into the top jobs was more important than rushing appointments. The Hungarian government supports leaders who "are not motivated by personal ambitions for power", but can negotiate with all EU members, promote consensus and "have not attacked any member states and have sought fair ties", he said. Gulyas said the candidates vying for the position of European Commission president failed to meet these criteria, noting the Hungarian government's opposition to the spitzenkandidat system overall. He said Manfred Weber, the lead candidate of the European People's Party (EPP), had failed to meet the requirement of having respect for all EU governments, arguing that Weber had "insulted" Hungary and voted for the Sargentini report critical of the state of the rule of law in the country.