in their hands because for hours and hours over the weekend friends to months their candidate was the man who was supposed to get the top job here and that all fell apart and of course the conservatives because they saw the man they had chosen should have sort of the seat at the european and the seat at the european commission and he didn't get it either so yes they need some time to sort of figure out that they somehow lost in this game of power and interest that is being that has been playing out here over the last 3 days and in the end they will probably sort of somehow come together because they had their shot and they messed it up barbara we should talk about some of the other names that have been mentioned now as the formal nominees for the top jobs one of them being a christine legarde for the european central bank take us through some of these other posts. christine legarde some say that the head of the e.c.b. is the most important job in europe really because that president is the guardian

of the euro stability of the euro it sets fiscal policy nothing for economists is more important than that what counts for christine lagarde of course is that he she has been head of the i.m.f. in washington for years now what counts against her is that she is not per se a banker she is not a central banker she is she has a legal education she used to be a lawyer so france is sort of really trying to sort of push her into that position and and this is the horse trading so the germans get the top job at the commission she gets the e.c.v. and then of course after that we have the french prime minister. as being president of the council and he will have to have he will have the an enviable task to to sort of preside over the next summits 20 hours 30 hours 40 hours so yes he will have to have a very he has to be really fit. of in the art of negotiation and finally the

e.p. the european parliament will have to figure out who's going to be their president some names have been floated and then there is supposed to be spending candidate the foreign minister from spain for the top diplomacy post in the e.u. so that's the whole package and that was that's what all the haggling has brought and we shall have to see how this flies in parliament but in the end i suppose it will barber haggling horse trading it has taken 3 days to come to this list of names why was it so difficult to find a consensus. it has been been more difficult than ever sumi because in earlier times you know some leaders would sit down and they would say ok you get this i take that and so we compromise on somebody it's done now it's a silly and much more diverse and divergent really because we have more parties in the european parliament we have leaders in eastern europe are really really begun

to assert themselves and we have some countries who are going different ways like italy who have suddenly shifted alliance from going was the western leaders and sort of trying aligning themselves to the east so everything has shifted and it is it has become really like like and sort of running a different direction is this difficult to get them together and to sort of force them to make a compromise that in the end is just like on a couple of names. barbara we should say this is the year that britain will be leaving the european union at least were expected to be migration is still an issue where you countries have not come to a consensus at least finances are in a dire state at the moment what image does all of the squabbling send to the rest of the world at a time when you really need to be showing some unity. the image of course yesterday was horrible after the leaders for over 20 hours and left without having

a result now today of course they say all right people it's taking a bit longer it's been more difficult but now you're getting a woman for the 1st time ever in the post of the e.u. president so they might sort of sell that as a positive and they also will sell as a positive that they didn't get the result that more or less everybody in the end sort of can can say it's all right and can agree to so that is something they will certainly try to convey that yes it's taking long but we got there but on the other hand of course everybody has seen the pros says and for the rest of the rule this is it's not really something that you want to see too often they need to pull together more and they must try to sort of show a more unified image whether they will manage to do that nobody knows how right barbara basal for us in brussels we are waiting of course a press conference from the e.u. council president donald tusk with more on those official nominations but our

barbara will continue to monitor things for us there thank you so much. all right let's get more on this now with thomas sparer political correspondent shere in berlin thomas as we said a funded line the defense minister here in germany right now officially formally nominated for the post of european commission president what more can you tell us about who she is and what she might bring to this post so i mean you mentioned the fact that she's germany's defense minister and as such she has had one of the most difficult jobs within i'm going to gold's cabinet because of the what some people describe as a dire situation of germany's forces on the fact that there has been a lot of criticism towards the capability on the readiness of germany's on forces those who support. a lie and say that despite those difficulties despite the fact that she inherited all those problems she has done a good job those who are against or sort of fall in the line criticize the problems

of the board is in internally. and is also seen as one of i'm going to close his confidence she has described as the only minister that has been with coal seams 2005 since i'm going to call became chancellor so they are seen as very close allies externally. lyon has tried to present a germany that is much more ready to act internationally to lead internationally she even described that a few years ago as leading from the center in other words needing with other european allies she has also stated the need for more cooperation on the european level when it comes to security and defense so there are different views us to what form that i and could bring to that job she is a controversial figure here in germany as well as i said some do support her do support her role as germany's defense minister but there are those who have criticized her as well very much you mention thomas that she has been controversial

but she's had a very difficult post as well as you also touched upon the defense minister here she's been a close ally of chancellor angela merkel you know she took the post in 2013 not everyone expected her to stay on as long as she has what has made her a successful here despite all the struggles that she's faced. that's true and before that post as germany's defense minister she had also had 2 other ministries the labor ministry and family ministry she's as i said seen as someone who's very close to a girl who is also a very calm person but very clear as to what goals are so what has strategies also as well so those are elements that she has certainly used in her favor not only now as a german defense minister but also in previous posts as well and as i said before there's also criticism towards fonda lion the she's seen also as someone who can polarize in certain elements as well and especially in this position as germany's defense minister and the fact that the board does various facing so much problem to

something that many people have criticized in the past and only recently she was also facing some struggle as well as we saw some elements some examples of germany's military capability were not functioning very well so those are all elements to describe sort of underlying you know thomas we've been talking about her we have a closer look now at a who was left on the line is let's take a look she's considered a close ally of german chancellor and in america who said that fundamentally in german defense minister christian conservative and on temple the titian. a medical doctor and mother of 7 from them lie until into america seaview party india the ninety's she later headed to ministry of family and women before serving as minister. as germany's 1st female defense minister funded lyon has aim to revamp the country's armed forces but recently she has to earn criticism for poor

management in the ranks and several scandals including revelations of far right extremists into german military equipment failures and then a military plane crashes plagued her tenure. a european at heart fluent in both english and french fun down lyon has long been seen as a possible successor to america last chance at 0 or more recently the next secretary general of nato. but now it looks more like the belgian born petition maybe tough to head the e.u. commission if so she would be different schoolman to fill in the post. that's an important point there thomas the 1st woman to fill the post but let's go back to some of the things we heard in that report there that criticism of some of the failures that the bundestag the german military has has experienced during her time as a defense minister they were of course problems before she took that post but tell us more about what some of those difficulties have been. so you are you're right

when you mention that this is a problem that does not only belong to or formed a line and that's something that she inherited was a very difficult post right from the start she knew and she was aware of those difficulties when she assumed the post of germany's defense minister and that has to do with the fact that there has been as i said a lot of criticism about some of germany's planes helicopters submarines you name it there has been plenty of reports here in german media about some of those planes and so on not being up to speed not working properly they have been failures as we saw in that report as well and although all sort of underlying has tried to repair that has tried to modernize germany's forces there are those who say that up to now that role has had mixed results there are those who support again there are those who say that given the circumstances given the fact that it is a very difficult job she has actually improved the german and forces there are

those who say that she has done too little and that the german armed forces are still facing very big problems at a time when she herself has tried to present to germany much more active and much more responsible in the international arena something that she as i said defended as leading from the center something that she in international venues and conferences has tried to present as germany's new role internationally well as we said thomas f. we have now heard that as she's been formally nominated as the choice to become the next european commission president much more to say about that but we see that uncle americal the german chancellor is speaking in brussels at the moment after these 3 days of negotiating and let's see if we can listen to what she has to say. so between the myths and if evolution fish wants to moments and. con us. does leaked and they're considered soon well deserved to all the motivation of heart unfortunately top pointed to the united states of.

science president and also talked to come to mit in parliament ok thomas says as we heard there is an american speaking german and she was just touching upon the fact that the original candidates for these posts essentially i didn't work out because of the deep controversies in divides that exist in the european union at the moment france to months she was saying there wasn't a popular choice with some of the european member states thomas why do you think that was last underlined was a popular choice or at least could gain enough consensus to be the nominee on the 100 because she is seen as a european at heart she was born in belgium grew up in belgium as well she speaks french speaks english obviously german as well so she is someone who was to say in favor for germany also for france we also heard from hungary's spokesperson that the visegrád countries also supported or formed alliance so in a way she was a candidate that sort of was a compromise for most parties at least who were discussing those names and it's

important to stress that that comes after the names that were discussed and i'm going to michael mention 2 of those names did not get so much support in the 1st place from the different countries in the european council so it was enough on the line in a way became a name that a nice to most countries could occupy that very important position of commission president or has to do with her past as i said in europe but the fact that she was born in in belgium it also has to do with the fact that she is one of those ministers the german ministers probably one of the few german ministers that are well known in brussels and she is someone as. i said who has played a very important role not only in germany internally dealing with germany the german armed forces but that has also tried to present that idea of germany's role internationally and also of more of a broader role for europe as far as security and defense is concerned so those will probably if she is indeed chosen those will probably be some of the elements that

she could be or she could bring to brussels that idea of a broader european support for defense and security that idea of germany also playing a major international role although that could get some criticism from different european countries but again that's the reason why it was a lot of underlying unlike some of the other candidates that were presented before and managed to become a compromise candidate for that very important role and thomas you know if she is indeed selected is this a victory for chancellor angela merkel was the last word tonight is someone who has been a staunch supporter of hers who has stood behind her for many many years i think it is it can be described as a victory for angela merkel the fact that the top position in the european union will be a could be at least in the hands of a german could be seen as a victory for angela merkel and also in particular only yesterday we were discussing that it was probably not a victory for i'm going to call the fact that her preferred candidate a man for was not going to get that top position it is also

a victory for angle or merkel or at least it could be seen as a victory for angela merkel the fact that it's one of her closest allies who could get that top position someone who has worked with angela merkel from the start of her chancery in 2005 all right thomas thanks very much we'll be coming back to you a little bit later in the evening thomas for political correspondent here in berlin . all right let's see if we can bring in barbara vessel she's been covering all of this for us from brussels and barbara i can't see what there you are if you can hear us you know we were just talking there with thomas about some of the pros and cons that people see 200 and we're seeing that in europe the socialists democrats at the center left are not very happy with the package of top jobs that have been announced the nominees tell us more about that. left of course is pretty furious and they're still making strengthening gestures now in the direction of the european leaders year in the council building because we have to feel them in a way they have.