French President Macron slams EU summit failure, hopes for deal on Tuesday

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday severely criticised the failure of an EU summit to reach a decision on who should take over the bloc's top jobs, although he added he hoped a deal could be reached when talks resume the following day. "We have ended today in failure, it's a very bad image for both the Council and for Europe," Macron told reporters.

"It is clear that this failure is down sometimes to some personal ambitions," he added. Leaders of the EU's 28 member-states had appeared close to a deal, with diplomats saying Dutch socialist Frans Timmermans was lined up for the job of European Commission president. But that post was just one of five that need allocating, also including president of the European Central Bank.

Bulgarian candidate Kristalina Georgieva is also out of the race to head the European Council, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said on Monday.