Europe Parliamentary committees clear the way for new EU Commission

The new EU Commission of President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to take up its work on December 1.

Representatives of the specialist committees in the European Parliament approved the proposals for the appointment of the top political posts in Brussels. The leaders of the major political groups in the European Parliament had previously agreed on the appointments.

A final vote in the plenary session of the Parliament is still pending, but approval is considered likely. The compromise that has now been reached also includes a written agreement between the center-right EPP alliance, which also includes the CDU and CSU, the Socialists and Social Democrats (S&D) and the liberal Renew Group.

Guidelines set out in writing

Guidelines for cooperation are set out in a paper just under two pages long. Among other things, the rule of law, support for Ukraine and a pro-European orientation are core aspects.

The powerful EU Commission is the only institution in the EU that proposes laws for the community of states and monitors compliance with EU law. The EU member states were allowed to nominate at least one candidate for the new composition of the Brussels authority. German Commission President von der Leyen had already been re-elected as head of the Brussels authority in July and had presented the planned team for her second term of office in September.

Dispute over appointments

In recent weeks, the designated Commissioners were then heard by the relevant committees of the European Parliament. Resistance arose during the questioning of the six designated Vice-Presidents.

There was particular controversy over the Italian Commissioner candidate Raffaele Fitto. This is the first time that a politician from the right-wing Italian party Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) is to be appointed as one of the Vice-Presidents of the EU Commission. He will probably become Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms and would therefore be responsible for the European Social Fund and a fund for regional development, among other things. However, the S&D Group did not want a right-wing politician to be given a prominent position as Vice-President.

The center-right EPP alliance, in turn, initially refused to confirm the current Spanish Environment Minister and Socialist Teresa Ribera as a candidate. As Vice-President, the Socialist is to be responsible for competition policy and the green transition. Conservative and right-wing members of parliament from Spain accuse her of not having warned the population in time about the severe flooding in the Valencia region in October.

Changes to Hungary's Commissioner

There had also been a dispute over Hungary's Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi. He has long been criticized for his loyalty to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The compromise now provides for parts of his initially planned responsibilities to be transferred to other Commissioners. According to CDU MEP Peter Liese, the competence for pandemic prevention, among other things, is to be transferred to the Belgian Commissioner candidate Hadja Lahbib.

In the evening, the Greens vehemently criticized the S&Ds for agreeing to the compromise. "The Social Democrats are breaking a key election campaign promise: they are making common cause with Europhobes and post-fascists and want to vote for candidates from Hungary and Italy," said Green MEP Daniel Freund. His party colleague Michael Bloss said that the S&D's approval was "undignified".

SDA