EU TERRIFIED as Orban to take power as  leader of European Council sooner than thought

Michel said: “I have decided to run in the European elections in 2024.”

He added: “If I get elected, I will take my seat [in the European Parliament]. The European Council can anticipate and name a successor by end-June, early-July.”

Budapest is due to take over the six-month council presidency.

EU rules ensure the member state holding the rotating presidency can stand in as President of the European Council in the absence of a permanent leader.

The President of the European Council chairs meetings and is central to forming the new Commission.

Pressure is on for the leaders of the 27 member states to agree on Michel’s successor by July 1.

There is no-love-lost for Orban in Brussels, with the Hungarian leader accused of holding the bloc back in its support for Ukraine.

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The EU Parliament also voted to approve a report which alleged Orban turned Hungary into an “electoral autocracy”.

Responding to speculation about Orban’s next role, Michel said: “I want to be clear that in any case, in June the decision was to be made on my successor and the parliament decision will be in July so it’s easy for the council to decide, to anticipate for my successor to enter into function.

“There are many tools if there is the political will to avoid Viktor Orbán.”

European leaders will meet on June 17, June 27 and June 28 to discuss top jobs across the bloc.

Elections to Brussels and Strasbourg will take place just a few weeks earlier, with polling stations opening on June 6.

Alberto Alemanno, a professor of EU law at the College of Europe, said: “Charles Michel’s decision to prematurely leave the EU Council presidency to pursue his own political career as MEP is not only self-centred but also irresponsible: It will pave the way for Viktor Orbán, the then president of the rotating presidency of the Council to take over EUCO until a new appointment.”

He added: “Making him [Orban], even temporarily, the EUCO President would be even more problematic and irresponsible.”

Tom Vandendriessche, a Belgian MEP from the Flemish nationalist Vlaams Belang, also said: “Charles Michel does an excellent job of demonstrating the irrelevance and redundancy of the position of President of the European Council.”

Dutch MEP Sophie in’t Veld wrote: “The captain leaving the ship in the middle of a storm. If that is how little committed you are to the fate of the European Union, then how credible are you as a candidate?”