On Tuesday 17 September in Strasbourg, the pro-European political groups in the European Parliament criticised the re-elected President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, for having kept the composition of her future team a secret from the press (see EUROPE 13484/1). They have promised to conduct thorough and rigorous hearings of candidate European Commissioners, with the European Parliament’s President Roberta Metsola promising that “MEPs will not make concessions”. Some candidates, such as Raffaele Fitto and Olivér Várhelyi, are already on the radar of certain political families.
The Christian Democrats, who will have the lion’s share of the future College, want to move quickly on this. The chair of the EPP group, Germany’s Manfred Weber, welcomed the fact that the ‘von der Leyen II’ Commission was “an EPP [labelled] Commission” that would take up the themes of the campaign, such as “security and competitiveness”.
Speaking on behalf of the S&D group, Spain’s Iratxe García Pérez felt that certain fundamental issues for the Social Democrats had been resolved in the final line of negotiations on the ‘von der Leyen II’ Commission (see EUROPE 13479/14), such as the granting of “two executive Vice-Presidencies, where issues relating to the climate, and to the fair and green transition are in the hands of the Social Democrats”, as well as taking account of the housing crisis.
Among the negative points, the Social Democrats cited the absence of the candidate heading the list of European Socialists during the European election campaign, Luxembourg's Nicolas Schmit. Frenchman Raphaël Glucksmann felt that the ousting of Mr Schmit and the disappearance of the Employment and Social Affairs portfolio constituted “a major problem”. Her compatriot from The Left group, Leïla Chaïbi, said she was “shocked” that the Social Affairs portfolio had undergone a transformation into the Skills portfolio. “Social policies are reduced to the fact that people are poorly trained and poorly prepared”, she complained.
The Fitto and Várhelyi cases. Another black mark cited by the S&D group is the granting of a Vice-Presidency to the Commissioner-designate that had been nominated by Italy, Mr Fitto. Drawn from the ranks of the European Conservatives, he would take on responsibility for cohesion policy and providing support for structural reforms in Member States.
“This presents a problem for us”, emphasised Ms Garcia Pérez, although she was “aware” that the President of the Italian Council, Giorgia Meloni, was going to appoint someone from her political family.
Along these same lines, the Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and The Left groups have warned Mr Fitto that he will have to demonstrate his skills and his commitment to European values at his European Parliament hearing. The chair of the Renew Europe group, Frenchwoman Valérie Hayer, regretted “the political choice” made by the re-elected President to grant Mr Fitto a Vice-Presidency of the Commission, whereas Ms Meloni had abstained on the appointment of Ms von der Leyen to the European Council at the end of June. However, his compatriot Pascal Canfin felt that the Fitto case was “less problematic” than the hypothesis that a member of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party would be responsible for “culture and the media”.
Speaking on behalf of the Greens/EFA group, Germany’s Terry Reintke failed to understand why Italy would be rewarded so greatly in the Commission’s organisation chart. She saw “a danger” in “moving the majority to the right” within the European Commission. The same was true of France’s Manon Aubry. For the co-president of The Left group, “having a far-right Vice-President for the first time says something about the political orientation of this Commission”. She criticised Mr Fitto for having been “convicted of corruption, taking illegal interest” and for his “homophobic” positions.
Ms Hayer also promised to be extremely vigilant with regard to the candidate renewed for a second term by Hungary, Olivér Várhelyi. “Will he guarantee that it will safeguard women’s sexual and reproductive rights throughout Europe? What about the fight against HIV?” she asked.
Ms Reintke pointed out that a two-thirds majority of the coordinators of a competent parliamentary committee would be required to approve a commissioner. Regarding Mr Várhelyi, she raised the possibility of a portfolio exchange.
Gender parity. Several political groups also saw the absence of genuine gender parity as a step backwards, despite Mrs von der Leyen’s efforts in this area. “We would have preferred a 50-50 split”, said Ms García Pérez, promising to “try to change the process and the rules so that there is an obligation on the part of Member States to propose a male and female candidate” when nominating their candidate Commissioners.
Like Ms Reintke and Bernd Lange (S&D, German), the chair of the S&D group noted that by appointing four women among the six executive vice-presidents, Ms von der Leyen was trying to “strike a balance”.
Internal governance. Referring to the surprise resignation the previous day made by Commissioner Thierry Breton (see EUROPE 13483/1), which he saw as evidence of France’s weakening position in Europe, Mr Glucksmann also felt that Ms von der Leyen now had “the Commission in her grasp”. “Virtually all of the [candidate Commissioners from] Member States are weak, and she appears to be the strongest woman in the Union”, he said in no uncertain terms, hoping that the Spanish Socialist Teresa Ribera will be able to act as a “counterweight”.
Ms Reintke expressed the disappointment of European environmentalists, who will no longer be represented within the future College. This was despite the fact that her political family, by voting in favour of Ms von der Leyen, had enabled her to be re-elected in mid-July (see EUROPE 13456/1).
Other MEPs also noted the risk, and sometimes the opportunity, of certain portfolios of Commissioners-designate overlapping each other, particularly with regard to the ‘European Green Deal’.
“Many subjects are intertwined. During the previous mandate, we saw that the European Commissioners and the Commission’s Directorates-General sometimes operated in silos and in a very compartmentalised way”, noted Ms Hayer, who also advocated “greater fluidity” between the departments in the EU institution. “When we talk about competitiveness, we are talking about decarbonisation, jobs, the social dimension; I could also give other examples”, she added.
Co-chair of the Greens/EFA group, Dutch MEP Bas Eickhout stressed the importance of future European Commissioners being able to cooperate effectively, in particular so that they could continue implementing the ‘European Green Deal’. He welcomed the fact that, as “cross-cutting objectives”, the climate targets that the EU has set itself for 2030 and 2050 will form part of the mission statements of all European Commissioners, as will the importance for the EU of adapting to climate change and mitigating its effects. In the same vein, Ms Reintke welcomed the fact that Ms von der Leyen, when putting together the future College, had avoided the “danger” that “the ‘Green Deal’ would be separated from Competitiveness and Industry”.
On the other hand, Ms Aubry condemned the fact that the ‘von der Leyen II’ Commission is now “giving way to ‘all-out competitiveness’, which has replaced the ‘Green Deal’” as the Union’s main project.
See the mission letters sent to European commissioners-designate: https://aeur.eu/f/dgh (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion with editorial staff)