Helle Thorning-Schmidt is front-runner to lead conference on Europe’s future

Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the former Danish prime minister, has emerged as the front-runner to lead the Conference on the Future of Europe, according to EU officials.

France and Germany have “agreed” on Thorning-Schmidt, according to a senior European Parliament official, while an EU diplomat said there was “close to a general understanding” on her name. A third official said EU ambassadors could agree on a candidate at a meeting next week.

For months, the start of the conference — meant to engage citizens across the Continent to come up with ways to overhaul and modernize the EU — has been held up by wrangling over who should be in charge. The coronavirus pandemic has also delayed its launch, which was once envisioned for last spring. 

The deadlock arose after the European Parliament made senior MEP and former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt its pick to preside over the conference. Verhofstadt is considered a nonstarter by several EU governments, who see him as a champion of European federalism.

Thorning-Schmidt, a Social Democrat former member of the European Parliament with a degree from the College of Europe in Bruges, was among a number of candidates floated in recent months as a potential solution to the stalemate. Italian ex-PM Enrico Letta and former Lithuanian President Dalia GrybauskaitÄ— were among other names suggested by EU officials.

As a pro-European and experienced female politician, Thorning-Schmidt meets many of the criteria EU leaders have been considering in their search for a candidate. Officials say French President Emmanuel Macron, the driving force behind the conference, is an admirer of Thorning-Schmidt, who even participated in a congress of his LREM party in 2018.

Daniel Freund, an MEP from the Greens group, said he had heard that a Franco-German agreement on the conference presidency was in the works but he had not been given a name.

“German and French governments are apparently sounding out their name with other governments,” said Freund, who is a member of the Parliament’s Working Group on the Conference on the Future of Europe.

Thorning-Schmidt has been mentioned as a candidate for a big EU job previously. Speaking to POLITICO’s EU Confidential podcast in 2018, she suggested it was time for both more women and for a “truly European” Scandinavian in a top EU post.

Thorning-Schmidt could not be reached for comment for this article.