Meet the new European Commission.
ADVERTISEMENTUrsula von der Leyen has assembled a new team of 26 European Commissioners to steer the powerful executive into a five-year chapter of sheer unpredictability.
The full College will receive the final confirmation vote next week in Strasbourg.
Getting there was not exactly easy: three nominees – Teresa Ribera, Raffaele Fitto and Olivér Várhelyi – became the target of partisan squabbles that threatened to derail the start of von der Leyen’s second mandate, now scheduled for 1 December.
The centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), prodded by Spain’s Partido Popular (PP), mounted a fierce campaign against Ribera, framing her as responsible for the response to the Valencia flash floods. Ribera, who currently serves as a minister in Pedro Sánchez’s cabinet, fought back, arguing the management of natural disasters is first and foremost the task of the regional government, which in Valencia is under the PP’s control.
Meanwhile, the Socialists & Democrats (S&D) and the liberals of Renew Europe decried the appointment of Raffaele Fitto as one of the Commission’s executive vice-presidents, warning his links with Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and the European Conservatives and Reformists group (ECR) amounted to a dangerous normalisation of far-right politics.
Socialists and Liberals also opposed Olivér Várhelyi for his close connection to Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and his long track of controversies, including an infamous episode in which Várhelyi was caught in an open mic referring to MEPs as “idiots.”
The back and forth unleashed intense days of closed-door negotiations that culminated on Wednesay evening with a deal to unblock all pending nominations. Ribera’s and Fitto’s portfolios remained unchanged whereas Várhelyi was stripped of his responsibilities related to reproductive rights and health preparedness.
The EPP, the S&D and Renew attempted to patch up their differences with a joint statement to reinforce the centrist coalition. The Greens, who voted in favour of von der Leyen’s re-election and share many of her policy guidelines, were notably excluded.
“The rule of law, a pro-Ukraine stand and a pro-European approach are core aspects of our cooperation,” the three groups say.
The statement, which some Parliament officials hailed as a “coalition deal,” is completely non-binding, meaning the EPP could easily ditch its commitment and team up again with ring-wing and far-right parties in the recently-baptised as “Venezuela coalition.”
At any rate, the centrist agreement gives von der Leyen some breathing room to kick off her second presidency, which will see the European Commission navigate a plethora of formidable challenges, both at home and abroad.
Euronews explains who’s who in the new European Commission.
