President of the European Council, Charles Michel, has abandoned plans to run in the European parliamentary elections after Hungarian leader Viktor Orban sparked fears that he could lead Brussels.
Michel will now remain in his job, three weeks after announcing he would run in the elections.
Orban was in the running to become President of the European Council.
A failure to find a successor could have led to Orbán taking on the role due to EU rules which ensures the member state holding the rotating presidency can stand in as President of the European Council in the absence of a permanent leader.
President of the European Council, Charles Michel has abandoned plans to run in the European parliamentary elections PABudapest was due to take over the six-month council presidency.
The President of the European Council chairs meetings and is central to forming the new Commission.
The U-turn means the former Belgian prime minister will continue to chair EU summits and represent the views of the bloc's 27 leaders.
It comes six day before a summit of EU leaders where the future of the EU's financial support for Ukraine will be decided.
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Brussels faces pressure to find a compromise which will allow Orbán to drop his veto against using the shared budget.
Officials suggest Michel's shock announcement is a sign that he is more concerned with his political future than to his current role as head of the European Council.
In a statement, Michel said that his U-turn was due to "extreme reactions" and "personal attacks" in response to his original decision, adding that he would "devote all my efforts to my current responsibilities".
He said: "I don’t want this decision [to run for parliament] to distract us from our mission or undermine this institution and our European project.
EU leaders will not want to see Viktor Orban's influence increase
PA"Nor be misused in any way to divide the European Council, which I believe must work tirelessly for European unity."
European leaders will meet on June 17, June 27 and June 28 to discuss top jobs across the bloc.
Elections to Brussels and Strasbourg will take place just a few weeks earlier, with polling stations opening on June 6.
