The twenty-seven works of Ursula von der Leyen, which reveals the contours of the new European Commission

Published on September 17, 2024 at 12:31 p.m. / Modified on September 17, 2024 at 2:29 p.m.

A coup by Thierry Breton, who resigned on Monday from his post as European Commissioner with immediate effect. Emmanuel Macron pretending to pull Stéphane Séjourné, the resigning French Minister of Foreign Affairs, out of his hat at the last minute. Slovenian Marta Kos, who is facing the slowness of her national parliament, which is supposed to approve her candidacy. The difficulties are piling up. But on Tuesday, despite this lack of serenity, Ursula von der Leyen finally presented the outlines of her new Commission to the group leaders of the European Parliament, on the sidelines of the plenary session in Strasbourg. With a few surprises.

The first is that Maros Sefcovic, who has been in charge of the Swiss-EU dossier so far, is losing his status as vice-president. He will become Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency. And will be responsible, among other things, for reducing bureaucracy. Less influential, he will nevertheless still be in charge of Switzerland, while an agreement is still supposed to emerge by the end of the year. Then, the Italian Raffaele Fitto, currently Minister for European Affairs in the far-right government of Giorgia Meloni, has indeed been appointed vice-president. His hearing before the European Parliament – ​​MEPs still have to validate the nominations – promises to be turbulent. Raffaele Fitto is supposed to be responsible for regional cohesion policies within the EU and for reforms.

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