Theresa May to walk into 'furious row' over Tusk's EU leadership
The PM may be focused on Brexit but the next EU summit is likely to be dominated by fighting over the future of Donald Tusk.
Thursday 9 March 2017 07:12, UK
Theresa May will today walk into the middle of a furious row over the re-election of European Council president Donald Tusk, in what is set to be her final EU leaders' summit before triggering Article 50.
The Prime Minister will attend the first day of the Brussels summit, where leaders from the 28-country bloc will discuss migration, security and economic growth.
But she will leave after dinner on Thursday night, allowing the remaining 27 leaders to discuss the next summit - in Rome on 25 March - which will celebrate the EU's 60th anniversary.
Mrs May has promised to trigger Article 50 by the end of the month and, despite defeats in the House of Lords over the plan, she expects to be able to stick to her schedule.
Brexit is not formally on the agenda at the EU summit but Mrs May has used these occasions to discuss Brexit-related issues with other leaders, for example the status of EU nationals in the UK.
The summit may be overshadowed, however, by a diplomatic headache regarding Mr Tusk.
Poland's prime minister Beata Szydlo has written to Mrs May and other European leaders, seeking to oust Mr Tusk in a vote at the beginning of the summit.
Ms Szydlo has accused her countryman of interfering in domestic politics.
Mr Tusk, whose initial two-and-a-half-year term expires at the end of May, would be expected to play a key role in the Brexit negotiations and he believes he has the support of many EU leaders.
But the bitter row between former Polish prime minister Mr Tusk and Ms Szydlo's Law and Justice Party has led to Warsaw proposing a challenger for the job - Polish MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski.
The dispute will come to a head at the beginning of the summit, when EU leaders will vote on whether Mr Tusk should continue in the role until the end of November 2019.
The dispute could have major implications for Mrs May, who needs to forge alliances with European leaders in her negotiations for a Brexit deal after she triggers Article 50 this month.
On Wednesday, Mrs May's spokesman said she would not reveal her voting intention before the summit, adding at a regular Westminster briefing: "The Prime Minister has been clear that she thinks that he (Mr Tusk) is doing a good job."
Mrs May's spokesman also would not confirm whether Britain had been invited to the 60th anniversary of the European Union in Rome at the end of the month, but suggested she would not attend.
Elsewhere at the summit, Mrs May will call for more action to counter "Russian disinformation" and "raise the visibility" of Western commitment in the Western Balkans, where Moscow faces allegations of helping to plot a coup attempt in Montenegro.
She is also expected to push EU leaders for "immediate action" to deal with an expected rise in refugees and migrants making dangerous journeys to Europe across the Mediterranean as the weather improves.