Deal for the new EU Commission

In June, EU citizens appointed the new parliament – and the Union still does not have a new commission. But now the team around President Ursula von der Leyen can most likely start work on December 1st. A blockade in the EU Parliament was resolved on Wednesday evening. And as in the summer elections, the European People’s Party (EPP) emerged victorious.

In the EU, “government formation” – the Commission has both an executive and a legislative function – is even more complex than it sometimes is at the national level. The only person who has had her job secure so far has been President von der Leyen. It was confirmed by Parliament in July. The other 26 Commission candidates proposed by the member states, however, were only heard by the parliamentary committees in the last few weeks, known in jargon as “grilling”.

This was followed by a real power poker around the six influential vice-presidential positions. Two personalities were particularly in focus: Raffaele Fitto from the Italian right-wing party Fratelli d’Italia and Teresa Ribera from the Spanish Socialists. The European Social Democrats (S&D) did not want to accept that Fitto would be “rewarded” with a particularly important office, even though his group did not elect the Commission President in July and already harbors post-fascist ideas. The EPP, to which von der Leyen belongs, castigated Ribera – currently Spain’s Minister for Ecological Transition – for her role in the Valencia flood disaster.

Spain’s Prime Minister intervened

In short: the parties mutually blocked the confirmation of the vice presidents (as well as the designated commissioner of Hungary). Meanwhile, in the background, negotiations between the parliamentary groups, von der Leyen and even the national governments were running at full speed. Haggling continued until the last minute. The EU Parliament in Brussels resembled a bee house on Wednesday, with sometimes relevant and sometimes contradictory information leaking out from all possible corners. The agreement was announced shortly before 6 p.m.

Spanish Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who was determined to get his party colleague Ribera through, apparently played a decisive role. It was he who persuaded S&D leader Iratxe García – she, too, from Spain – to swallow the “Toad Fitto”. In return, the EPP agreed to an agreement with the Social Democrats and the Liberals and weakened its demands on Ribera. The group no longer ultimately demands that the Spaniard resign from office if criminal investigations are opened against her in connection with the Valencia disaster.

However, the agreement, which only covers one good side, is not all that binding. According to voices from parliament, it only contains “common guidelines” and is essentially simply a confirmation of the agreement that the “pro-European alliance” made before von der Leyen took office. The new edition was necessary not least because a lot of dishes have been broken in the last few weeks and trust between the parties has suffered.

Breaking of the “pro-European alliance”?

The S&D, after all the second strongest group in Parliament, was thirsty for more: They wanted to get the EPP to promise that in the future there would no longer be majorities in Parliament with the right-wing conservative group of the European Conservatives and Reformers (ECR), which also includes Fittos Fratelli d’Italia , to form. In recent months there have been several such agreements in the EU Parliament, which the Social Democrats see as a breach of the previous alliance.

But the EPP is not prepared to make this concession. For the Christian Democrats, it is attractive to be able to stretch their hand to the left or to the right, depending on the issue. According to the EPP, we are working with all democratic forces, including the ECR group. In doing so, she also wants to prevent parties that are even further to the right from gaining strength. The S&D, for their part, feel pushed to the wall, with German and French MPs in particular expressing difficulty with the deal.

The final act is still pending. Next Wednesday, the EU Parliament must confirm the new Commission in corpore. If this succeeds – which is to be expected – it can start at the beginning of December.