Some of civil society reacted in a mixed way on Tuesday 10 September to the announcement of the composition of the next European Commission by its President-elect, Ursula von der Leyen.
In particular, environmental NGOs have expressed serious reservations.
Sceptical environmental NGOs
While welcoming Mrs von der Leyen's wish to give more powers to the Climate Commissioner, Frans Timmermans, through his position as Executive Vice-President, which will allow him to supervise many other portfolios (see EUROPE 12324/1), the Climate Action Network Europe (CAN Europe) warned him that they’d be watching him closely. “We are expecting him [Frans Timmermans] to deliver on his campaign promise to urgently increase the EU's ambition on climate”, warned Wendel Trio, Director of CAN Europe.
The NGO Greenpeace was more critical, highlighting Mrs von der Leyen's contradictions in the fight against climate change. While the latter claims to focus on climate, Greenpeace considers her promise to reduce EU greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 to be insufficient, given what science considers necessary to avoid catastrophic climate impacts.
“Von der Leyen is selling her set of commissioners as a green dream team, but it's the game plan that really counts”, said Magda Stoczkiewicz, deputy director of Greenpeace’s European office.
Like CAN Europe, Greenpeace has therefore called on the new Commission to present a proposal as soon as possible to reduce EU greenhouse gas emissions by 65% by 2030 and to reach zero net emissions by 2040 at the latest.
The “Protection of the European way of life” portfolio proves divisive
Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty Europe, pointed to the controversial nature of the portfolio devoted to “Protecting our European way of life” attributed to the Greek national Margaritis Schinas (see EUROPE 12324/2). According to her, “linking migration with security in the portfolio of the ‘Commissioner for Protecting our European Way of Life’ risks sending a worrying message”.
Mrs von der Leyen's announcement was more warmly welcomed by the business community. BusinessEurope, representing the European business community, said it was looking forward to working with the new Commission to “constructively contributing to achieving a healthy economy that works for all”. Unlike Amnesty Europe, Markus J. Beyrer, Director General of BusinessEurope, also welcomed “the [von der Leyen Commission's] commitment to defending the European way of life”.
Farmers’ organizations generally satisfied
For its part, Copa-Cogeca, representing a range of agricultural organisations and cooperatives in the EU, considered that the proposed allocation of portfolios was a good sign for European farmers. “We are glad to notice that the DGs [Directorates-General] AGRI, SANTE and TRADE have kept coherent attributions and that the coordination regarding climate action will be improved”, said its Secretary General, Pekka Pesonen.
The organisation also enthusiastically welcomed the suggestion of assigning the EU’s Trade Policy to former Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan of Ireland. According to Mr Pesonen, the latter will continue “to defend the interests of European agriculture in his new position”. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot – intern)