July 1 (UPI) -- A record-breaking European Union jobs summit was suspended Monday after officials couldn't settle on who should take over some of the alliance's top posts, officials said.
EU officials met in Belgium for about 20 hours before the conference ended in deadlock. The alliance met to determine new leadership after EU elections in May, but so far haven't been able to agree on some of the top positions
Disagreement is mainly over who will take over as European Commission president to succeed the outgoing Jean-Claude Juncker. The bloc also disagrees about the rules of picking a leader.
Dutch socialist Frans Timmermans appears the favorite but some eastern European members could challenge him. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez presented Timmermans as a compromise candidate.
"There was no majority on any candidate," EU Council President Donald Tusk said. "The European Council agreed that there needs to be a package reflecting the diversity of the EU. We will meet again on June 30. In the meantime I will continue consultations including the European Parliament."
The alliance is also meeting to determine new heads of the executive commission, European Parliament, the European Council of EU governments, the EU's foreign policy chief and the head of the Eureopean Central Bank.
The summit will resume Tuesday.
