French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday 11 October that the "political crisis" facing the European institutional level should not take hold, following the rejection by MEPs of the Commissioner-designate for the Internal Market, Sylvie Goulard (see EUROPE 12346/1).
"This is an extremely important and sensitive time. There is a new European Commission and a new European Parliament coming into being and facing a political crisis that we must not allow to take root and develop", said Mr Macron, as he received the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, in the Elysée for the first time. He called for solutions to be found so that a "strong Commission" can carry out ambitious projects.
At this stage of the 'von der Leyen' Commission's constitution procedure, 23 candidates out of 26 have been validated by the European Parliament. France, Romania and Hungary (see EUROPE 12336/2) each have to propose a new candidate.
Budapest has officially put forward its ambassador to the EU, Olivér Várhelyi. The Romanian authorities have also done so by proposing Dan Nica. But the fall of the social democratic government has changed the situation. The next Prime Minister, whose name will be known by 15 October, may decide to appoint someone else.
On the French side, there is a lot of speculation about who will replace Ms Goulard. The names of Florence Parly, Ségolène Royal, Michel Barnier, Bruno Le Maire, Clément Beaune, and even Benoît Cœuré have been raised. Since the President-elect of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is still committed to gender parity, a female candidate will be preferred.
The deadlines are becoming tight: for the Commission to take office on 1 November, the European Parliament must vote on the entire College on 23 October. This requires that ahead of this point Ms von der Leyen allocate portfolios to the three Commissioners-designate and that the latter take the preliminary steps of evaluation of their declaration of financial interests by the Parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee and their hearings by the competent parliamentary committees. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)