EU divided over top jobs after polls redraw political map

European Union leaders stood divided Tuesday over who to name to the bloc’s top jobs, after elections shredded comfortable old political alliances and raised troubling questions about the future of the European project.

At a summit in Brussels, major powers France, Germany and Spain all differed over who is best suited to lead the EU’s powerful executive arm, the European Commission, for the next five years. Former Luxembourg Premier Jean-Claude heads the commission, which proposes EU laws and ensures they are respected, until Oct. 31.

After voters turned out for last week’s European Parliament elections in numbers not seen in 20 years, the leaders want to show they can respond quickly to people’s concerns. The aim is to name all four top jobs — the commission chief, a replacement for Donald Tusk as European Council president, a new foreign policy chief and head of the European Central Bank — at a summit June 21-22.

Avoiding any mention of the differences or candidate names, Tusk said the leaders hope “we can provide clarity on all these posts already in June,” but he said that “this depends not only my good will but also on the good will of everyone involved.”

French President Emmanuel Macron, whose party is joining forces with a new pro-business liberal group in the EU parliament for the first time, insisted the choices should represent the new political project that European voters are demanding.

“The new order means one thing: It’s that we cannot just repeat the old habits,” Macron told reporters.

“It is important to me that these nominations have parity, that we have two men and two women. It is important for me to have the best profiles possible,” he said, noting that there must “be balance in terms of political leanings and in terms of geography.”

Other leaders, too, said the aim is to have two women in top posts.