The candidacy of former Polish Prime Minister and MEP Beata Szydło (ECR) to head the European Parliament's Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL) was rejected on Wednesday 10 July by 27 votes to 21 in what was supposed to be a constituent session. A result that could trigger a domino effect and potentially undermine Ursula Von der Leyen's election to the Parliament as head of the European Commission next week.
The discussions were immediately heated at the opening of the meeting, after the S&D group had requested a secret ballot vote instead of the election by acclamation normally held. Despite the opposition of the EPP, through the Maltese David Casa, who called for the distribution key established according to the D'Hondt rule to be maintained, the S&D request was accepted. The latter group's request obtained more than 11 of the necessary support from MEPs’ ranks.
Despite a plea in favour of her work in Poland in the social field, former Prime Minister Beata Szydło was scathingly rejected with a 6 vote difference. According to several sources, such a setback was only made possible thanks to an unusual alliance between Renew Europe and the left side of the hemicycle. This is a result that goes beyond the scope of the commission, we are told.
An extraordinary meeting could be held next week to elect the chair and vice-chairs of the parliamentary committee. Some explained that the ECR group could submit a less controversial name than Mrs Szydło. Others claim that this would not be a solution, since it would be a strategy of partisan opposition by left-wing political groups and not exclusively linked to a person.
A cordon sanitaire that goes beyond the far right group
This would indeed show that the cordon sanitaire (see other news) goes beyond the far-right ID group to reach delegations from the ECR, or even the EPP. For example, there were slingshots in the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) against ECR Mazaly Aguilar (from the far-right Spanish VOX party) or in the Culture and Education Committee (CULT) against Andrea Bocskor (EPP, Hungary), because of her membership of Fidesz, the party of the highly controversial Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán.
Concern for the candidacy of Ursula Von der Leyen
Last week, the ECR already experienced a major disappointment, having failed to secure a seat among the vice-chairs for the Pole Zdzisław Krasnodębski (see EUROPE 12288/1), a member of the party that heads the government.
Some now fear that, as a reprisal, the Conservative and Eurosceptic party may not support, next week, the EPP Group candidate for the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, as the EPP has failed twice to secure ECR candidates. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)