Candidate for her own succession, the German official is being questioned, two months before the European elections (June 6 to 9) which will lead to a renewal of the heads of the main EU institutions.
In a non-binding vote, the European Parliament, meeting in Brussels in plenary session, adopted an amendment (382 votes for, 144 against and 80 abstentions) calling for the cancellation of this appointment and the launch of a new procedure. “Big majority for our amendment!”, welcomed its author, the German environmentalist MEP Daniel Freund, on X.
The case concerns the appointment, at the end of January, of an emissary responsible for small and medium-sized businesses. The post was awarded to German MEP from the European People’s Party (right) Markus Pieper, a few weeks before a congress in Bucharest at the beginning of March, during which the EPP gave its support to a second term for Mrs von der Leyen.
The majority of MEPs opposed it
“We have coaxed a MEP among the biggest detractors of Ursula von der Leyen” within the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the German pillar of the EPP, of which she is a member, denounced Mr. Freund.
The EPP tried to thwart this vote, attempting at the last minute to table an amendment supporting this nomination and Mrs von der Leyen. In vain, the majority of MEPs opposed it.
Markus Pieper signed his contract on Sunday March 31, and is due to take up his new role on April 16, for a four-year mandate. The grade 15 position, one of the highest in the European hierarchy, should earn him remuneration of 18,430 euros gross per month, according to the official scale.
Through its spokesperson Eric Mamer, the Commission reaffirmed shortly after the vote that it had “respected the procedures” and confirmed that Mr. Pieper would indeed take up his duties as planned, next week.
The European Commission divided
The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, as well as three commissioners, the French Thierry Breton, the Italian Paolo Gentiloni and the Luxembourger Nicolas Schmit, had called for a discussion within the college of 27 commissioners, questioning “the transparency and impartiality” of the procedure for appointing Mr Pieper.
Mr Schmit himself is the standard bearer for the Social Democrats in the European elections. The subject was finally broached at a college meeting on Wednesday. The exchange “lasted an hour, with the PPE commissioners speaking in turn to defend Markus Pieper,” explained a Source familiar with the discussions.
“Thierry Breton and Josep Borrell discussed the lack of collegiality and blatant problems with sharing information on the part of Ms. von der Leyen,” this Source further detailed. On February 29, a dozen MEPs from four political groups (social democrats S&D, liberal Renew, The Left and the Greens) had already addressed a series of questions to Mrs von der Leyen.
A majority within the future European Parliament
They questioned in particular reports according to which two candidates, Czech MEP Martina Dlabajova, from the Renew group, and Anna Stellinger, from the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, had reached the final stage of the recruitment procedure by obtaining better results. evaluations that Mr. Pieper.
Commission spokesperson Eric Mamer chose a football metaphor to justify Mr Pieper’s victory at the end of the final talks. “In some football tournaments, there is a group stage after which two teams move on to the next round, the counters are then reset to zero for the rest,” he explained.
The choice of the future President of the European Commission, European executive, remains a prerogative of the EU heads of state and government who will discuss it after the June elections. However, it must be approved by a majority within the future European Parliament.
(afp)
