Only the Christian Democratic group really appreciated the performance of Dubravka Šuica, the Commissioner-designate for Democracy and Demography, at the European Parliament on Thursday 3 October (see EUROPE 12341/6).
In a statement, Danuta Huebner (EPP, Poland) said that the Croatian nominee will make an “excellent” Commissioner, praising her “strong commitment to democracy” and her willingness to work “closely” with the European Parliament.
Despite being unconvinced, the next two political groups in order of size - the social democrats of the S&D group and the liberals of Renew Europe - have resolved to support Mrs Šuica, even though their own MEPs, Raphaël Glucksmann (S&D, France) and Chrysoula Zacharopoulou (Renew Europe, Greece), directly attacked Mrs Šuica on the subject of her convictions and the positions she took when she was an MEP.
On behalf of the S&D group, Domènec Ruiz Devesa (Spain) promised to “keep a close eye on” how Mrs Šuica delivers on her promise to organise a conference on the future of the European Union.
For the liberal group, Pascal Durand (France) spoke of a "just sufficient, but hardly inspiring" performance in which the Commissioner-designate was “too prudent, too imprecise and almost reluctant in her answers about our common challenge to reform the European Union”. In a statement, he called for real ambition to be shown in involving citizens in deliberations on the future of the EU, so that the Conference does not just end up as “an ivory tower”.
At the coordinators' meeting for the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Mrs Šuica did eventually narrowly obtain the two-thirds majority needed to get the green light from MEPs - with 19 out of a total of 28 possible votes from the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe and ECR groups.
In the opinion of Daniel Freund (Greens/EFA, Germany), the Commissioner-designate benefited from a “non-aggression pact” between the four groups, which were united in a “grand coalition”. The EPP and S&D groups have both already suffered the loss of a Commissioner-designate in László Trócsányi (Hungary) and Rovana Plumb (Romania) respectively. Mr Freund told EUROPE on Friday 4 October that the groups had clearly been following orders from above. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)