EUROPE - Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron have clashed again over who will fill the EU’s most senior posts, prompting one frustrated national leader to claim it would be easier to elect a pope. An unproductive meeting on Thursday between the German chancellor and the French president appeared to dash any hope of a swift resolution to their dispute over the future leadership of the EU’s institutions, including a replacement for Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European commission. The EU’s top five jobs – presidents of the commission, council, European parliament and European Central Bank and high representative for foreign affairs – are all changing hands. Ireland’s taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, quipped as he arrived at the summit: “It’s quicker to elect the pope very often than it is to fill these particular positions.”