The fate of the Council’s candidate for Commission president lies squarely in the hands of MEPs and their political groups in the run-up to next week’s vote in Strasbourg. Meanwhile, ‘mainstream’ groups close ranks to keep the populists out of power.
Ursula von der Leyen’s probable appointment as Commission president is not yet signed, sealed and delivered, with a number of hurdles for her still to overcome. For one, it looks like the Greens (the fourth biggest group in the European Parliament) will not be backing her.
Von der Leyen not (quite) a done deal
The presidential candidate was on tour in the European Parliament this week with hearings scheduled with all the political groups. The Greens were the only group to voice a clear decision after their meeting with the German defence minister on Wednesday (July 10). “We will vote against her,” German MEP Sven Giegold wrote in a press statement.
Even earlier in the week, the Green co-chair Ska Keller had told Luxembourg’s 100,7 that there was “not much appetite” for voting in favour of the Council-backed candidate.
Ska Keller, Member of the European Parliament – Greens, Germany (in German):
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“We need to clarify what will happen to the Spitzenkandidaten process, which the Council has been jeopardising for a while now. We insist that any contender for leading the Commission campaigns as a lead candidate in the EU on behalf of his political party and the next Commission president should clarify how the Council is dealing with this European Parliament demand.”
MEP Nicolas Schmit, who is set to become Luxembourg’s new EU commissioner, attended the von der Leyen hearing in the Parliament’s Socialists and Democrats group. Schmit later confirmed that S&D MEPs weren’t too enthusiastic about her either, although there had so far been no decision on how to vote.
Nicolas Schmit, Member of the European Parliament – S&D, Luxembourg (in Luxembourgish):
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“Her speech to the Parliament, in which she could be more precise on several issues, will be particularly important. This could make it possible for at least part of our group to vote for her. But right now, everything is open.”
The German social democrats are not, however, sitting on the fence. All 16 MEPs from Germany’s SPD are to vote against their compatriot. As MEP Jens Geier explained to 100,7, von der Leyen failed to convince – notably on social standards and the rule of law.
Geier insists that the blame should not fall at the feet of the Parliament if the German candidate fails to get a majority.
Jens Geier, Member of the European Parliament – S&D, Germany (in German):
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“We [the Parliament] have to deal with a proposal made by the Council. According to the treaty of the EU, this proposal must be approved by a majority of this house. And, if I may say, we parliamentarians should have the right to say yes or no.”
Von der Leyen requires the votes of at least 374 MEPs in Strasbourg next week. The vote will take place at 6pm on Tuesday (July 16).
Mixed feelings to the east
An MEP from Poland’s main opposition party, Civic Platform, points out that the countries of central and eastern Europe have failed to secure any top appointments in the new EU legislature, as Polskie Radio reports.
Elżbieta Zielińska, Member of the European Parliament – EPP, Poland (in Polish):
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“We in central Europe clearly have a problem coming together to choose and agree on important positions, unlike the countries of the old Union. These Western countries support one another and even manage these important positions, while we have not yet learned about cooperation or internal EU policy.”
Law and Justice MEP Witold Waszczykowski, though, feels confident that the strong relations between Poland and Germany will bear fruit for Poland in the newly formed European Union.
Witold Waszczykowski, Member of the European Parliament – ECR, Poland (in Polish):
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“It is clear that Germany will be heading up the European Commission. We have a lot of common economic interests with Germany. Thirty per cent of our economy is interdependent with that of Germany. German trade with Poland is higher than German trade with Russia. German trade with the Visegrad Group is higher than that with France. So there are certain points of contact here. We also both care about the stability of the eastern flank and the Three Seas Initiative.”
Belgium packs a punch in Parliament
Meanwhile, decisions were taken on a number of important posts in the European Parliament.
Three of the Parliament’s 22 permanent committees and subcommittees look set to be chaired by Belgians in the first half of the coming legislature, says RTBF.
MEP Maria Arena (a member of Belgium’s Socialist Party) is expected to chair the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights, Green MEP Petra De Sutter is anticipated at the helm of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee and Johan Van Overtveldt, an MEP for Flemish party N-VA (ECR group), is to head up the Budgets Committee.
No members of the populist Identity and Democracy group are likely to be given a committee as the other parliamentary groups close ranks to keep the far right away from positions of influence.
Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party is also up in arms, reports MTVA, as the country’s opposition parties encourage their groups not to support Fidesz MEPs in their bid to steer any committees.
István Hollik, Hungarian government spokesperson (in Hungarian):
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“The Hungarian opposition is trying to block the appointment of Hungarian MEPs belonging to the governing party. This goes against the will of the Hungarian people. At the European elections in May, which saw a record turnout, Hungarians voted by an overwhelming majority for the governing party to represent them in the European Parliament.”
It appears that neither Renew Europe nor the Socialists and Democrats will be backing candidates from Fidesz or Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party.
EU turns its sights on IMF
On Tuesday (July 9), EU finance ministers endorsed the proposal of the Union’s heads of state and government to nominate Christine Lagarde as the next president of the European Central Bank. The formal decision is expected to be taken in October when EU leaders meet again.
The EU’s finance ministers have now turned their attention to putting forward a common candidate to succeed Lagarde as president of the International Monetary Fund.
The candidate should be experienced in dealing with financial crises, Luxembourg’s finance minister told Euranet Plus member 100,7 after the meeting, While he was not prepared to give a name, he agreed that former Eurozone chief Jeroen Dijsselbloom would tick all the boxes.
Pierre Gramegna, Minister of Finance for Luxembourg (in Luxembourgish):
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“[The candidate] should be able to handle crisis, because this is much-needed in the post at the IMF. In Europe, we had the crisis with Greece, which we overcame. But the IMF has to deal with crises in many countries around the world, and Ms Lagarde had to cope with quite a number of these.”
Renew Europe throws weight behind Kövesi for chief prosecutor
With France’s former finance minister Christine Lagarde now tapped for the post of ECB president, the prospects of Romania’s former chief prosecutor Laura Codruţa Kövesi becoming European chief prosecutor seem to be looking up, reports Radio România. The European Council had previously expressed a preference for French candidate Jean-François Bohnert.
Dacian Cioloș, Romania’s former European commissioner and current leader of the European Parliament’s Renew Europe (ALDE) group, has said that his political group supports Kövesi’s candidacy, despite the Romanian government’s ongoing smear campaign against her.
Dacian Cioloş, Chair of Renew Europe (in Romanian):
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“Given that Emmanuel Macron’s party is in our political group and that a French candidate is already supported by the Council, our close dialogue will allow us to find a solution and take a decision as quickly as possible. This is in the EU’s interest as we need the European Chief Prosecutor and European Public Prosecutor’s Office in place without delay. Laura Codruţa Kövesi knows that she has supporters in our group and I will take proactive measures to resolve this issue as soon as possible.”
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which is scheduled to open for business early in 2021, is charged with combating serious financial crime in the EU.
Climate emergency declarations abound
London, Basel, Dublin, Naples, Munster, Toulouse, Warsaw, Vancouver, New York, Sydney, Auckland… More than 700 of the world’s cities and jurisdictions have already declared a climate emergency, with more pouring in daily.
On Tuesday (July 9), it was the turn of Cologne, reports ams. Cologne city council expressly linked its declaration to the goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, against which all future decisions should be weighed up. In addition, the city has agreed to report annually on the effects of, and measures to reduce, greenhouse gas emissions.
The German chancellor spoke about climate change in her weekly video podcast.
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany (in German):
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“We implemented an adaptation strategy in 2008. This strategy was revised in 2019 and we will present the results in 2020. This is above all about coming to the right conclusions, for example in urban planning. Now climate change is factored into our building code. We have several programmes through which cities’ green spaces are increasingly being put to good use, helping people to better adjust to the higher temperatures. The federal government has put in place a variety of measures to bring things really up to date.”
Western Balkans summit
Politicians from eight EU member states and six Western Balkan countries participated in last week’s Western Balkans Summit on July 4 and 5.
Attendees collectively committed to developing cooperation, with potential areas of joint activities including infrastructure projects, the fight against corruption and youth exchanges.
Polish premier Mateusz Morawiecki declared his strong support for the Balkan states joining the Union, as Polskie Radio confirms.
The prime minister of North Macedonia, one of the countries aspiring to EU membership, announced that the whole region would be working on internal reforms.
Zoran Zaev, Prime Minister of North Macedonia (in Macedonian):
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“We will motivate each other to improve our citizens’ standards of living. In a few years, we will definitely be members of the European Union, but right now we have to work on standards in our countries.”
Ukraine can count on Europe
Ukraine–EU relations and the situation in the east of Ukraine were top of the agenda at the 21st Ukraine-European Union summit, which was held in Kiev on Monday (July 8).
The summit was attended by Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk, who assured Ukraine’s president of the EU’s full support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and independence.
Donald Tusk, President of the European Council (in English):
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“We do not and will not recognise the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia. Only a few days ago, the EU unanimously extended the economic sanctions against Russia for another six months. The sanctions will remain in place until the Minsk agreements are fully implemented.”
- Author: Joanna Neville, Euranet Plus News Agency
