Preben Aamann, spokesperson for European Council President Donald Tusk, tweeted Monday that Tusk had suspended the European Union summit to pick nominees for the bloc's top positions.
Tusk will reconvene the meeting at 11:00 a.m. local time (0900 GMT) on Tuesday, Aamann said.
Read more: Which jobs are EU leaders haggling over?
European Union leaders are giving a poor image of Europe through their failure to agree on the bloc's top jobs despite marathon talks, French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday. "We are giving an image of Europe that is not serious," Macron told journalists.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she "hoped that with good will a compromise will be feasible."
A deal hatched among several key European leaders to award a former Dutch foreign minister the post of EU chief executive broke down at an emergency summit on Sunday after eastern European and center-right European leaders rejected the plan.
Dutch socialist Frans Timmermans had appeared the favorite to replace Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission after the leaders of Germany, France and Spain agreed to back him while in Japan last week.
But they ran into unexpectedly tough opposition on Sunday from Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The summit dinner began three hours late after bilateral meetings to find a solution dragged on.
The impasse underlined the broader decision-making problem facing the European Union (EU)'s 28 governments, who hail from a range of political groups, and who have struggled to respond to a series of crises in recent years from migration to the economy.
European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans, candidate of the Party of European Socialists, speaks during the election night for European elections at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, May 27, 2019. /Reuters Photo
The summit is a third attempt to fill five top posts running the European Union for the next five years, forging policy for 500 million Europeans from November.
EU leaders were also meant to choose the next president of the European Central Bank (ECB), but that decision seems likely to be postponed for lack of consensus.
"There's been a center-right revolt against Timmermans. They stand by their choice," said one senior EU official at the summit.
The European People's Party (EPP) says it won the most seats in May's European election and thus under the bloc's lead candidate, or Spitzenkandidat process, deserves the Commission president post. Its pick is Manfred Weber, a German EU lawmaker.
"The vast majority of EPP prime ministers don't believe that we should give up the presidency quite so easily, without a fight," Ireland's center-right Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told reporters.
Manfred Weber (R1), candidate of the European People's Party for the next European Commission president, gestures during the European Parliament election night in Brussels, Belgium, May 26, 2019. /VCG Photo
That was despite a decision by Merkel, who leads the EPP bloc but has seen her political powers weaken, to acquiesce to Macron.
Macron, a centrist, has argued that the center-right share power after 15 years of dominating the Commission, even though the EPP won the biggest share of seats in the May European Parliament elections and remains the biggest party.
Liberals and Socialists led by Macron and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez say they are pushing back at what they see as increasing center-right German domination in Brussels and want to focus less on financial austerity and more on issues such as climate change and a higher minimum wage.
But Eastern European leaders at the summit said they were opposed to Timmermans, who in his current role as vice president of the Commission has repeatedly accused Poland and Hungary of violating civil rights.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (C) arrives at a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium, June 30, 2019. /VCG Photo
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote to EU conservative leaders before the summit to underline his opposition. Poland and Croatia have also expressed concerns.
"I'm afraid that this person is not really the right one to unite Europe," Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis told reporters.
To be appointed, the next Commission president needs the support of at least 72 percent of the 28 member states, who must represent at least 65 percent of the EU population.
According to voting projections, Timmermans could be blocked by Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary if Italy's eurosceptic government, which has spoken out against Timmermans, and Britain, which is leaving the EU, abstained.
The president of the EU Commission should be chosen before Wednesday, when the parliament elects its president, but some diplomats said there was talk of another EU summit on July 15.
The other main jobs up for grabs are the presidency of the European Council – grouping the EU governments – the EU's foreign policy chief and the governor of the ECB.
Leaders are seeking a balance of men and women at the top, and also a balance between eastern and western member states. Female candidates include Danish liberal Margrethe Vestager; Kristalina Georgieva, the Bulgarian head of the World Bank for foreign affairs chief; and Christine Lagarde as ECB president, sources said.
(Cover: European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker arrives at a European Union leaders summit that aims to select candidates for top EU institution jobs, in Brussels, Belgium, June 30, 2019. /VCG Photo)