MEPs approve Ursula von der Leyen's new team, which wants to prioritize competitiveness against the United States and China

In Strasbourg, the European Parliament approved, on Wednesday November 27, by a large majority, the composition of the new European Commission, headed by Ursula von der Leyen.

Encouraged by the favorable vote of 370 deputies (282 against and 36 abstentions), the Commission will take office on 1^is December and will have to deal with the return of Donald Trump to the White House, the war in Ukraine, trade tensions with China and climate change.

L’Europe n’a “no time to waste” warned the President of the Commission, making competitiveness a priority for ” to fill in “ the gap with the United States and China. “Our freedom and our sovereignty depend more than ever on our economic power”she insisted.

In terms of defense, Ursula von der Leyen then insisted on the need to do more to compete with Russian military spending, at a time when the return of Donald Trump raises fears of a disengagement of the United States in Ukraine.

“Our expenses must increase”said the 66-year-old German. “Russia spends up to 9% of its GDP on defense. Europe spends on average 1.9%. There is something wrong with this equation.”.

The return of Trump, a challenge

Preparing for Mr. Trump's return is “the most urgent challenge” for the European Union, underlines Luigi Scazzieri, analyst at the Center for European Reform. On “two fronts” : trade, with the Republican president-elect's promise to increase customs duties on European products, and “security”with the war in Ukraine.

Despite these challenges, the European Parliament will have struggled before approving the composition of the new Commission. The groups clashed over the vice-presidency granted to the Italian Raffaele Fitto (territorial cohesion), member of Giorgia Meloni's far-right Fratelli d'Italia party, while the left demanded the maintenance of a “sanitary cordon”. Ursula von der Leyen assumed this vice-presidency, which allows her to maintain her relations with Ms.^me Melons. “It’s a choice I made”she stressed to MEPs.

New faces

After several days of standoff, the EPP (right), the centrists of Renew and the social democrats ended up sealing an agreement to approve all of the proposed commissioners, a first in twenty years.

Among the new faces: former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas becomes the new head of EU diplomacy; the French centrist Stéphane Séjourné obtains a vice-presidency with a broad portfolio on industrial strategy; the Spanish socialist Teresa Ribera will be vice-president for ecological transition and competition.

This new Commission leans to the right, with around fifteen portfolios, out of twenty-seven, allocated to the EPP, the main political force in Parliament. Its leader, Manfred Weber, did not hide his satisfaction. It's a Commission “very balanced”he estimated, mentioning a possible parliamentary majority ranging from ECR (extreme right), where the Italian MEPs of Giorgia Meloni sit, to certain Greens.

In passing, the German official once again brushed off the left's accusations of its ambiguities with the far right. “There are red lines” and no cooperation possible with those who are not “pro-Europe, pro-Ukraine and pro-rule of law”he reaffirmed, distinguishing between Giorgia Meloni's troops and the two other far-right groups.

At the head of the social democrats, the Spaniard Iratxe Garcia Pérez highlighted the “need for stability” in Europe to explain his support for the new team. But this is not “not a blank check”she said, warning the EPP. “We will not accept double dealing” with the extreme right.

The granting of a vice-presidency to Raffaele Fitto divided his group. French socialists voted against the new Commission. “We are crossing a red line. We should have a combat commission, capable of defending the general European interest, and I do not believe that Fratelli d'Italia is on this line”denounced Raphaël Glucksmann (Place publique).

Among the Patriots, on the far right, Jordan Bardella rejected the new team outright, “commissioners unknown to the general public who dictate the daily lives of 450 million citizens”he castigated.