Who will get EU’s top jobs? Bloc must decide how to fill them first

“You could eventually end up with someone not ambitious enough, because if you want to satisfy everyone, you might be looking at the lowest common denominator,” said Agata Gostynska-Jakubowska, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform in Brussels.

This could lead to further trouble down the road.

“Many Europeans who went to the polls last month actively voted for change, and punished the center right and center left for muddling through, failing to come up with more bold actions on Europe’s pressing challenges,” Ms. Gostynska-Jakubowska said.

“If we end up with someone who’s not embracing this call for change,” she said, “there could be a bigger backlash the next time around.”