Brussels, 21/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - Despite a few defections being announced - like that of the Greens/EFA Group, which said on Tuesday 21 October that it would vote against the investiture of the Juncker college - the president-elect of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, is expected to see his team invested without problem in Strasbourg on Wednesday 22 October. It should thus start its work on 1 November.
The political groups are nevertheless expected to decide on their definitive positions in the group meetings on Tuesday evening - like Guy Verhofstadt's ALDE Group, which is relatively pleased to count five Liberal commissioners in the team but still concerned about the outcome reserved for Tibor Navracsics from Hungary. ALDE especially wants the Citizenship and Culture sections to be removed from the Navracisics portfolio. Within the EPP Group, there could still be a few withdrawals. French UMP MEP Rachida Dahti stated earlier in October that she would not back the Juncker Commission and particularly its Greek commissioner, Dimitris Avrampoulos, who is opposed to a reform of the Schengen area.
Gabi Zimmer, leader of the GUE/NGL Group, said on Tuesday afternoon that her group would not back the Juncker team as the European radical left had decided that Juncker has not respected his commitments and has given precedence to the grand EPP/S&D coalition agreements over the call of the European elections for more democracy and transparency, said Zimmer. In Zimmer's view, the Juncker Commission's reputation is, moreover, already tainted in that it will be approved with some very controversial members, such as Miguel Arias Canete from Spain.
These criticisms and individual defections are not expected to change the outcome of the vote on Wednesday, however. Aware of the expectations of certain MEPs, Juncker is also expected to make a few announcements in the morning, a source stated, indicating that he “could say certain things on the level of the €300 billion investment”. Juncker is also expected to tell MEPs about the latest adjustments to the portfolios - especially as regards the Citizenship and environmental Sustainability sections. He has also been busy over the last few days clarifying the functioning of his Commission. As regards the allocation of the tasks between Pierre Moscovici and Valdis Dombrovskis, Juncker provided clarification in a letter to Verhofstadt on 15 October, stating that Dombrovskis and Moscovici will work “together” and “in case of disagreement, I will decide”, he said.
Reason more than passion. Respect for the timetable and the outcome of the Juncker college were not guaranteed at the start of the week, but the suspense has been gradually removed with the clear resolve of the Parliament's political groups to have the Commission working as soon as possible. Accordingly therefore, the hearings of the commissioners-designate - Violeta Bulc from Slovenia for Transport, and Maros Sefcovic from Slovakia for the vice-presidency in charge of the Energy Union - did not give rise to any surprises on Monday evening, with Bulc being judged by some as not really better than Alenka Bratusek but receiving her committee's green light without difficulty - as did Sefcovic (see other articles). These two latest assessments therefore close a hearings process that did not convince everyone. The Greens regretted on Tuesday that although the hearings were interesting in their concept, they seem to have been pre-empted by political negotiations. “The MEPs were taken hostage”, Zimmer stated.
Gianni Pittella from Italy, the leader of the S&D Group, said on Tuesday morning that he had again spoken to Juncker the previous day about the priorities of the Social-Democrats, and he gave assurances that he had obtained several written guarantees from Juncker - especially as regards granting Frans Timmermans competence for “sustainable development”. Pittella's meeting with Juncker also focused on the €300 billion level of investment and the outcome of medicines in the competences of the Commission. “Juncker repeated that he agreed with our demands”, Pittella stated - who will check during his investiture speech on Wednesday morning that Juncker will keep to his commitments carefully. Nevertheless, the agreement seemed relatively sealed on Tuesday, with Pittella being convinced that a large majority of his troops will back Juncker. This will even be the case “of the majority of Spanish socialists”, Pittella added, although defections are expected from this side. In Pittella's view, the priority is to turn the Barroso page. “The Barroso Commission must not go on past 1 November”, he said, thus calling on his troops to cast their reservations aside.
By contrast, the Greens and GUE/NGL are disappointed. In the view of Rebecca Harms, the co-leader of the Greens/EFA Group, the hearings are difficult to defend because they will not have prevented unsuitable candidates from being approved to cover the posts that have been entrusted them. The Greens also find that Juncker has gradually moved further away from the commitments he took during his election in July. “Concern about the environment virtually doesn't exist any more”, deplored Philippe Lamberts, the co-leader of the Greens. “At the social level, and international trade level too, we have seen gradual slippage”. Nevertheless, the Greens/EFA Group does not believe that things will be worse than under the previous Commission. “I am delighted that the Barroso era is coming to its end”, said Harms, who is convinced that “now, our dialogues will be different” (our translation throughout). (SP with EL)