SIBIU (REUTERS) - European Union leaders will meet two days after the May 23-26 European Parliament elections to start the process of agreeing who will take over at the helm of the bloc's top institutions later in the year, European Council President Donald Tusk said.

"I would like to announce that just after of the European Parliament election, on May 28, I will call the meeting of all EU leaders in order to start the nomination process," he told a news conference after EU talks in Romania on Thursday (May 9).

Tusk said he wanted the process to be "swift, smooth and effective", and respecting criteria of geography, demography, gender and political balance.

"It would be best if we managed to reach consensus on all these decisions," he said. "But I will not shy away from putting these decision to the vote if consensus proves difficult to achieve," he said, adding he wanted to have the new EU leadership agreed in June.