On Tuesday 10 September, Europe’s Social Democrats publicly put pressure on the re-elected President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to take account of their demands concerning the composition of the next European College of Commissioners.
If our following expectations are not taken into account, it will be “very difficult, even impossible” for Social Democrat MEPs to support Ms von der Leyen’s future team, said the President of the Party of European Socialists (PES), Stefan Löfven, and the President of the S&D Group in the European Parliament, Iratxe García Pérez, in a statement.
These expectations are as follows: - strengthen the process for leading candidates (‘Spitzenkandidaten’); - ensure gender balance; - emphasise social rights and place them under the supervision of an experienced person; - ensure a fair distribution of executive vice-president posts within the Commission that reflects the majority within the European Parliament.
As the second largest political force in Parliament, “our support has never been a blank cheque”, warned Mr Löfven. In his view, removing the PES ‘Spitzenkandidat’ at June’s European elections, Nicolas Schmit of Luxembourg, from the composition of the future College would mean breaking with the practice - established since 2014 and the setting up of the ‘Spitzenkandidaten’ process - whereby, after the European elections, the candidates heading the list play a role commensurate with the relative weight of their political family.
Having failed to obtain prior assurances from Ms von der Leyen that Mr Schmit would become the Commission’s ‘number 2’ with a corresponding portfolio, the Luxembourg government appointed the Christian Democrat Christophe Hansen (see EUROPE 13475/15).
“Nicolas Schmit’s absence is unacceptable, as he was our ‘Spitzenkandidat’. And the argument that he is not of the same political persuasion as the Luxembourg Prime Minister does not hold water, since Ms von der Leyen is not of the same political persuasion as the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz”, Jean-Marc Germain (S&D, French) told a few journalists.
Mr Löfven also expressed concern that a European Commissioner from the European Conservatives, in this case the Italian Raffaele Fitto, was in a position to obtain the post of Executive Vice-President.
On Tuesday, Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said that Ms von der Leyen would not be presenting her future team to the Conference of Presidents (CoP) of the European Parliament’s political groups on Wednesday 11 September. A new meeting has been set for Tuesday 17 September in Strasbourg, alongside the Parliament’s plenary session.
To explain this postponement, Mr Mamer cited the need for Slovenia to wait for the opinion of the Slovenian Parliament, scheduled for Friday 13 September, before making official the nomination of its new candidate for the post of European Commissioner, Marta Kos (see EUROPE 13478/24).
At the European Parliament, the process of organising the hearings of the European Commissioners-designate will only officially begin once Ms von der Leyen has sent the MEPs the declarations of financial interests and the mission statements. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion with Florent Servia)