European Union: The path is clear for a new EU Commission

Ursula von der Leyen originally wanted to start work with her new commission on November 1st. Now the President of the Commission can at least be prepared to get started on December 1st. After a lengthy back and forth between the left and right camps, the European Parliament managed on Wednesday to bring the hearing of the 26 women and men who will be part of von der Leyen’s new team to an amicable end.

The Social Democrats and Liberals agreed that the Italian Raffaele Fitto would be one of Ursula von der Leyen’s six deputies. Because he belongs to the post-fascist Fratelli d’Italia of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, He was met with great rejection, especially by the Social Democrats. In return, the European People’s Party (EPP) agreed to give up resistance against the Spanish socialist Teresa Ribera. Ribera had been accused of possibly sharing responsibility as a Spanish minister for the flood disaster in Valencia.

A very final vote will follow next week

Part of the deal between the three group leaders is an agreement on the basic principles of future cooperation between the three partners, who form an informal coalition in the European Parliament. EPP leader Manfred Weber had recently drawn the ire of liberals and social democrats because he had repeatedly formed right-wing majorities in parliamentary votes. Weber rejected all calls to take away Raffaele Fitto’s title as deputy chairman. Ursula von der Leyen also apparently showed no willingness to move away from her personnel table. Like Weber, she sees Giorgia Meloni as a strategic partner for her politics.

The commissioners are appointed by the respective governments, and the president then assigns them their tasks. The 26 nominees – Ursula von der Leyen takes the German position – must each be confirmed individually by Parliament. This procedure is now completed. Before the Commission can take office, it must be approved in its entirety by the plenary session of Parliament. That should happen on Wednesday next week in Strasbourg. A simple majority is sufficient for this. This is likely, but not yet certain. There will still need to be a lot of discussions in the next few days in order to smooth things over after the turmoil of the recent past.

The majority of EPP, Social Democrats and Liberals has been too narrow since the European elections to rely on that alone. There is no strict group discipline in the European Parliament, and there is also a risk among the Social Democrats that many MPs will not follow their group leader Iratxe García.

Many Social Democrats distrust EPP leader Manfred Weber

The Spaniard had initially set her people, together with the Greens, on a strict course: the Italian Fitto was absolutely unacceptable as vice president. Many in her group find it humiliating that she now, almost overnight and presumably on the instructions of her party leader Pedro Sánchez, deviated from this and essentially responded to the demands of the EPP. There is great distrust of EPP leader Weber, as was shown at a group meeting on Wednesday. Many MPs are also critical of García’s entire strategy, which is based on confrontation with Manfred Weber.

It was the Greens who helped the Commission President get re-elected in mid-July in return for extensive commitments on climate and environmental policy. Now, however, they were not involved in the cross-party negotiations about the commission members. That’s why the majority of them will probably vote against von der Leyen’s team.

The “Conservatives and Reformers” (ECR), the fourth largest group in the European Parliament, to which the Fratelli d’Italia belong, are likely to vote for the Commission. They did not support Ursula von der Leyen’s re-election in July because the Commission President was clearly campaigning for green votes. Now von der Leyen approached the Fratelli with the nomination of Fitto as vice president. In a close vote in Strasbourg, the Commission could only come into office thanks to the support of right-wing parties. That would be a historic turning point for the European Union.

Raffaele Fitto recently received great cross-party support in Italy. President Sergio Mattarella received him at his government headquarters, and this week the former Italian heads of government Romani Prodi and Mario Monti made an appeal to the European Parliament: Raffaele Fitto, like Teresa Ribera, is a qualified candidate. Prodi and Monti called on the European Parliament to take “institutional responsibility” and ensure that the Commission can take office on December 1st.

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