If it takes office on 1 December in accordance with the stated objective, the von der Leyen Commission intends to present, starting Wednesday 11 December, the outline of the European Green Deal, one of its flagship projects.
Keeping this timetable is important for the future College, as this presentation would take place at the UN COP25 conference in Madrid and, above all, on the eve of a European summit that is expected to take a unanimous decision on the European Union’s climate neutrality by 2050. This will require convincing the handful of reluctant Member States that are highly dependent on fossil fuels, including Poland.
One of the challenges of the future Green Deal concerns the social dimension of the Union’s shift towards a cleaner economy. The Commission should therefore clarify its ideas on the Just Transition Fund, which will help regions migrate to a low-carbon economy. This will act as a way of convincing Warsaw that the funds raised will be significant and available for a sufficiently long period of time to go for it.
In mid-October, the Polish authorities presented their vision of the Just Transition Fund (see EUROPE 12351/9).
The green light given by MEPs on Monday to Olivér Várhelyi’s candidacy for the post of Enlargement Commissioner increases the chances of the Commission taking up its duties at the beginning of December (see EUROPE 12371/16).
On the basis of a recommendation from the Conference of Committee Chairs, the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament’s political groups could decide on Thursday to include the vote on the future College as a whole on the agenda of the plenary session on Wednesday 27 November.
This vote, which will take place after the EU Council has approved the list of Commissioners, will be by a simple majority and will not be held by secret ballot.
If this scenario is realised, the von der Leyen Commission will have 27 Commissioners for 28 EU countries, with the United Kingdom refusing to appoint a Commissioner before a new British government is formed following the parliamentary elections on 12 December.
Infringement proceedings have been opened against this country for this reason (see EUROPE 12369/4). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)