On Wednesday 13 November, the European Parliament held tense discussions on the timetable and procedures for approving the College of Commissioners, against a backdrop of bargaining between the European Parliament’s political groups.
The day before, MEPs had heard the heavyweights of the new Commission, namely the six potential executive vice-presidents of the ‘von der Leyen II’ Commission. However, the MEPs have still not assessed the results of these hearings or those of the European Commissioner-designate for Health, Olivér Várhelyi, although they were supposed to examine the latter’s case on Wednesday.
Officially, the assessments have been postponed, but negotiations are well under way.
The left and centre in the European Parliament are criticising Manfred Weber, the Chair of the EPP group, for blocking the approval of the European Commissioner-designate for the EU’s Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, Teresa Ribera (see EUROPE 13522/1).
On Tuesday evening, the hearing of the third Vice-President of the Spanish Socialist government was overtaken by the Spanish national news. The right and far right have come out in force against the management of the deadly floods in the Valencia region, accusing Ms Ribera - and her government - of being responsible for the consequences of the disaster.
Breach of the coalition agreement. In a press release, the S&D group said that because of Manfred Weber’s “irresponsible” behaviour, the Christian Democrats had “broken the historic pro-European democratic agreement between the conservative, social democratic and liberal groups in this Assembly”.
In July 2024, the European Parliament validated the candidacy of the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, “on the basis of a pro-European democratic majority”, it reiterated (see EUROPE 13456/1).
In recent days, this group noted that EPP leaders are “prepared to jeopardise the stability of the European institutions in a difficult geopolitical climate”.
In a statement to the press, the President of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament, France’s Valérie Hayer, also condemned the deadlock in the negotiations to validate the composition of the new Commission. The outcome of the hearings is being “hijacked by political games”, she said with annoyance, calling on all the political forces to “return to the discussion table”. In passing, the MEP urged President Ursula von der Leyen to take action to break the deadlock.
On behalf of the Greens/EFA group, which had joined the pro-European coalition by voting in favour of Ms von der Leyen’s re-election, Germany’s Terry Reintke denounced the “EPP’s irresponsible and short-sighted political games (which) are jeopardising the democratic alliance” within the European Parliament. By “desperately seeking to form unscrupulous alliances with the far right”, the EPP is “creating instability that is damaging to the EU institutions at a time when the international context has become increasingly hostile to European integration”, she added.
On Wednesday afternoon, Ms von der Leyen met with several European Parliament political group leaders to try to find a favourable outcome for the approval of her team of Commissioners. She is said to have renewed her confidence in Ms Ribera’s candidacy.
The plenary debate in Brussels on Wednesday on the effects of the flooding in Spain was dominated by the quarrels between the Spanish on how to manage the crisis (see other news). Esteban González Pons (EPP, Spanish) called on the S&D group to propose a new candidate instead of “rewarding” Ms Ribera, who was held responsible for the poor management of the floods. “We have irresponsible politicians”, including Ms Ribera, said Jorge Buxadé Villalba of Vox. Oihane Agirregoitia (Renew Europe, Spanish) said she was “disgusted” by the politicisation of this disaster. Vicent Marzà i Ibàñez (Greens/EFA, Spanish) blamed the Spanish PP, which governs the Valencian Community, for the disaster by having abolished the Valencia emergency unit.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, President of the Spanish PP, has also called for Ms Ribera to be replaced and for her to appear before the national parliament, with a debate scheduled for Wednesday 20 November. He said he was convinced that within the Spanish government there are people “who know the Commission, who know the Union, who have worked with it” and who do not have the problems of the official candidate. The name of Luis Planas, the country’s Minister of Agriculture, who was born in Valencia, has been mentioned.
Two other commissioners criticised. During the hearings, the left and centre parties protested against the vice-presidency awarded to Italy’s Raffaele Fitto, a member of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia party. These groups also criticised the profile of the Hungarian candidate Olivér Várhelyi, Commissioner-designate for Health and Animal Welfare, whose candidacy has not yet been validated.
“Commissioner Várhelyi’s portfolio must be reshuffled and the executive vice-presidency must be withdrawn from Mr Fitto”, summarised the presidency of the Greens/EFA Group on Wednesday.
Following individual approval of the Commissioners, a vote in the European Parliament plenary on Ms von der Leyen’s new team is scheduled, at this stage, for 27 November. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)