Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will not be present at the forthcoming European Union summit and has transferred his vote for the negotiations to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a German government spokesman announced on Wednesday.
The Spanish prime minister is absenting himself from the key gathering of EU leaders on account of the death of his father-in-law.
The summit aims to take decisions on the top positions in the European Commission following European Parliament elections early this month.
Ursula von der Leyen is expected to continue in office as European Commission president for a second term, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas is pencilled in as the bloc's new foreign policy head.
Former Portuguese prime minister António Costa is to be the next European Council president, charged with preparing and chairing EU summits over the next two-and-a-half years.
Sánchez and Scholz, both social democrats, negotiated the appointments on behalf of the Socialists & Democrats grouping in the parliament.
The parliament will have the final say next month.
