 He addressed European Parliament on 17 April, arguing that it was "useless" to fight against the rise of populism and that it was necessary to understand why people listened to the promises of populists.In a 9 May meeting with other EU leaders in Sibiu, Romania, he expressed support for the "Spitzenkandidat" process of electing a new European Commissioner used in 2014 that had come under fire by other leaders such as President Emmanuel Macron of France and President Dalia Grybauskaitė of Lithuania.Along with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković of Croatia, Kariņš represented the governments ruled by the center-right European People's Party (EPP) in the negotiations on new appointments to top posts in the European Union following the 2019 European elections, including the European Council, the European Commission and the European Central Bank.