After the vote approving the ‘von der Leyen II’ Commission (see EUROPE 13533/1), MEPs were rather glum as they left the Chamber in Strasbourg on Wednesday 27 November.
This vote is not an act of adhesion, but a resigned vote, by default, imbued with a duty of responsibility towards Europeans. Many regret Ursula von der Leyen’s decision to retain the Italian from Fratelli d'Italia, Raffaele Fitto, as Executive Vice-President.
“I note that support for the President is becoming increasingly narrow. Between July’s vote and today’s, she has lost dozens of votes”, noted Manon Aubry (The Left, French). Many called it a “political error” on the part of the President, in particular Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA, Dutch) and Sandro Gozi (Renew Europe, French). “It is a rather weak Commission, with a President who has given herself all the powers and who will have even more political responsibility”, he said.
MEPs see the College’s approval by a slim majority as a bad omen for the forthcoming mandate.
“We will have project majorities. Each time, we’ll have to look for votes for all the texts”, anticipated Stéphanie Yon-Courtin (Renew Europe, French). For her, the forthcoming votes will be very divided, both between the delegations of each group and within the national delegations themselves. She is concerned that national debates will be invited into the European Parliament, as was the case during the hearing of the Executive Vice-President designate, Teresa Ribera (see EUROPE 13522/1). “We can clearly see that there is a breakthrough by the eurosceptics, those who want to ensure that Europe does not succeed and that Europe collapses”, she deplored.
Like her colleagues, she expects the new Commission to prove itself. “We want to work now, because there are a lot of challenges ahead of us”, said Mr Eickhout. “We are confident that we will be able to achieve the political priorities for which we elected this Commission”, qualified Mr Gozi. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)