BRUSSELS — The jobs of president of the European Commission and president of the European Council should be merged so the EU can speak with one voice on the global stage, European People’s Party boss Manfred Weber said Wednesday.

Reforming the EU’s leadership structure in such a way would not need changes to the bloc’s treaties, Weber argued at an event for business leaders in Brussels; it would simply mean giving one person both jobs. He said this could happen after the next EU election, in 2029.

“We are blocked, we are speechless, we are voiceless, we have no say on the global stage, and that has to be stopped,” said Weber, the president of Europe’s largest political family.

The European Commission president (currently Ursula von der Leyen) leads the bloc’s executive arm, which has power over trade, agriculture, the single market and other internal policy areas — although foreign affairs is handled by the EU’s top diplomat (Kaja Kallas) and the European Council president (António Costa), with both reporting directly to EU countries.

This fragmented division of power is not “up to the task” at a time of geopolitical uncertainty, Weber said, with Donald Trump’s U.S. administration turning the international order upside down.

Asked by POLITICO if he would be in the running for a future “president of Europe” role, Weber declined to rule it out, saying: “I don’t want to answer.”

He later added that “the future of these questions are in the hands of the party structure and in the hands of the citizens of Europe.”

Weber has led the EPP in the European Parliament since 2014, and in 2019 campaigned for the job of European Commission president, but EU leaders instead chose von der Leyen, then Germany’s defense minister.

In his speech, Weber also said EU countries should switch to qualified majority voting on foreign and security policy issues rather than by unanimity.

This idea has been floated for years, but some government leaders are firmly against further European integration, including Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Slovakia’s Robert Fico.

If such reform is not possible, as it would require the backing of all current members, those countries willing to advance integration “should go forward with a special sovereignty treaty” on foreign policy, Weber said.