A deal hatched among several key European leaders to award a former Dutch foreign minister the post of EU chief executive broke down at an emergency summit Sunday after eastern European and center-right European leaders rejected the plan.
Dutch socialist Frans Timmermans had appeared the favorite to replace Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission after the leaders of Germany, France and Spain agreed to back him while in Japan last week.
But they ran into unexpectedly tough opposition Sunday from Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The summit dinner began three hours late after bilateral meetings to find a solution dragged on.