Political stand-off delays approval of new commissioners in European Parliament

Political manoeuvring between the important thing centre-right European Folks’s Social gathering and the Socialist & Democrats has put the method of agreeing the subsequent European Fee on ice as candidates stay topic to remaining approvals.

The entire hearings of the candidates has now been staged, and analysis letters are anticipated to be revealed on November 21 with the Parliament anticipated to vote within the Fee as an entire the next week.

Every candidate wants the assist of at the very least two-thirds of the European Parliament (EP) committee conducting the related affirmation listening to. This implies nearly all of political teams should again every commissioner.

Earlier than the hearings, all political teams in Parliament introduced that choices can be based mostly on the substance of candidates’ solutions. Nonetheless, this has not been totally the case.

Twenty candidates had been permitted swiftly after their hearings, whereas Hungarian candidate Olivér Várhelyi’s affirmation was postponed, requiring him to answer further written questions.

Then got here the primary occasion: on Tuesday, November 12, the six designated government vice-presidents had been grilled by MEPs. These included Spain’s Teresa Ribera Rodríguez, Romania’s Roxana Mînzatu (Socialists and Democrats), Finland’s Henna Virkkunen (European Folks’s Social gathering), France’s Stéphane Séjourné, Estonia’s Kaja Kallas (Renew Europe), and Italy’s Raffaele Fitto (European Conservatives and Reformists).

The teams that supported von der Leyen’s Fee within the earlier time period—the European Folks’s Social gathering (EPP), the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), and the liberal Renew Europe—agreed to approve the vice-presidents in a “package deal deal” quite than individually, igniting a political tug-of-war over the composition of the subsequent Fee.

The EPP is withholding its inexperienced gentle for Spain’s Teresa Ribera till she addresses the Spanish Parliament in relation to her position within the lethal Valencia flooding. Ribera, whereas ready for affirmation as Fee vice-president, stays Spain’s vice-president in command of Ecological Transition. This doubtless means suspending her approval till subsequent week.

The S&D has strongly criticized the EPP’s stance, accusing the group of utilizing Ribera as a “scapegoat” and stating in a press launch that “the EPP’s management is keen to threat the steadiness of the European Establishments amid a difficult geopolitical local weather.” The socialists have issued their very own demand, nonetheless, calling for a “pro-European, democratic majority” supporting Ursula von der Leyen, excluding the far-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).

In observe, this might imply stripping ECR’s Raffaele Fitto of his vice-presidency. “We will’t settle for him. It will be a dangerous alternative for the way forward for European establishments,” stated Brando Benifei, a distinguished Italian Socialist MEP.

The EPP strongly opposes downgrading Fitto to a easy commissioner. The group argues that the Italian candidate deserves the vice-presidency resulting from Italy’s dimension and significance, in addition to the broader political implications of shifting the Fee additional to the appropriate.

European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen intervened to resolve the stalemate on Wednesday, as political negotiations grew tense. She met with the leaders of the three main teams in Brussels: EPP’s Manfred Weber, S&D’s Iratxe García Pérez, and Renew’s Valérie Hayer, however no deal was struck, regardless of “channels of communication maintain open”, as an EP supply tells Euronews.

Renew Europe seems extra open to reaching a compromise rapidly, implicitly criticizing each the EPP and S&D for his or her ongoing conflict. “We denounce and remorse the irresponsible habits of political forces not contributing to a accountable and dependable resolution,” stated Renew chair Valérie Hayer in a press release earlier than assembly von der Leyen. “We urge the President of the European Fee to take motion and duty now to beat this impasse and construct bridges.”

The Greens/EFA, who supported von der Leyen’s candidacy for Fee President in July however don’t have any designated commissioners, additionally expressed concern over the impasse and criticized the EPP. “EPP’s management is playing, taking the EU hostage, aligning with the far-right. That is irresponsible,” wrote on X Greens co-chair Terry Reintke.

The end result of those negotiations may result in slight changes in duties and titles for some designated commissioners, although the outright rejection of a candidate stays unlikely. Within the earlier legislature, Parliament rejected three commissioners: France’s Sylvie Goulard, Romania’s Rovana Plumb, and Hungary’s László Trócsányi. Though an identical state of affairs appears unlikely this time, as one Spanish Socialist remarked of the continued negotiations, “Every little thing is now at stake.”