Path cleared for confirmation of new EC college

(Patria) - The parliamentary groups of the European People's Party, Social Democrats, and Liberals agreed yesterday to support candidates for the remaining seven members of the European Commission (EC), paving the way for the European Parliament to confirm the new EU executive body next week, sources from these parties said.

The hearings of the candidates became complicated due to conflicts between the main political groups in the parliament, which could have jeopardized the confirmation of the EC, on which the parliament will vote on November 27 in Strasbourg.

From November 4 to 12, all 26 candidates for commissioners were heard. 19 of them received positive assessments, but the assessment of six Executive Vice-Presidents (Kaja Kallas, Raffaele Fitto, Roxana Mînzatu, Stéphane Séjourné, Teresa Ribera, and Henna Virkkunen) and the Hungarian candidate Olivér Várhelyi proved problematic.

The party groups that traditionally form the majority in the European Parliament - the European People's Party, the Social Democrats, the Liberals, and the Greens - voted for the 19 heard candidates.

They were joined by hard-right MEPs from the European Conservatives and Reformists, who had otherwise voted against the re-election of Ursula von der Leyen as EC President in July.

The ECR's cooperativeness is interpreted as their desire not to harm the only proposed candidate for EC member from their ranks, Raffaele Fitto, who is proposed as Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms and comes from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party.

The Social Democrats had threatened from the very beginning not to support a hard-right figure in the position of Executive Vice-President and demanded that he be an ordinary commissioner.

The European People's Party responded that they would not support the Spaniard Teresa Ribera from the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), who is proposed as Executive Vice-President for Green Transition and Market Competition, which is the second most powerful position after the EC President, if Fitto did not pass as Executive Vice-President.

Now, the Socialists have abandoned their demand to strip Fitto of the Executive Vice-President title and agreed to vote on the remaining seven as a package, in return for the EPP voting for Ribera.

The case of Olivér Várhelyi, the current Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, who is proposed as Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare in the new EC, is special, and he is the only ordinary commissioner sent for a re-evaluation.

After his hearing, he was asked to answer several written questions, which he did, but the assessment of his performance was still delayed, and he was also included in the package with the Executive Vice-Presidents.

Most parties requested that Várhelyi be decided upon in a package with the Executive Vice-Presidents, but the Socialists refused.

However, the problem with Várhelyi is that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán could delay the appointment of a new candidate if he is rejected, which could then lead to further postponement of the vote on the new EC, Hina reports.