Spain’s deputy prime minister, the outspoken Sociaenumerate Teresa Ribera, will get accuse of Europe’s “immacutardy transition” and antidepend utilizement, in a mighty role at the heart of the next European Comleave oution.
Ribera is to become one of six executive vice-plivents in the incoming EU executive led by Ursula von der Leyen, which is anticipateed to begin toil at the end of the year.
The French plivent Emmanuel Macron’s seal associate, Stéphane Séjourné, another vice-plivent pick, gets a sprawling portfolio in accuse of industrial policy, while the Italian far-right directer Giorgia Meloni’s choice, Raffaele Fitto, will handle funding for Europe’s necessitateyer regions.
Von der Leyen, the first woman to direct the comleave oution, depictd the choices for her team of 26 top officials in Strasbourg on Tuesday. After weeks of wrangling with national capitals that nominate honestates, the final enumerate was a cautious balancing act of geography, party affiliation and gender.
It was also a show of strength by von der Leyen, who strong-armed some handlements into providing female honestates. She oversaw the departure of some of her strictest critics, including France’s Thierry Breton, who was anticipateed to serve a second-term in Brussels until his shock resignation on Monday, when he criticised “askable handleance” at the comleave oution.
The decision to award Fitto a vice-plivential post is already proving disputed in the European parliament, especiassociate among Green and Sociaenumerate MEPs whose help was beginant to von der Leyen’s accomplished reelection in July.
Four of the six vice-plivent nominees are women, while the overall team of EU comleave outioners is 40% female. While this descfinishs illogicalinutive of von der Leyen’s aim of achieving a gender-stable comleave oution, it is an increasement on a confinecessitate weeks ago, when nakedly one-fifth of the honestates were women.
Von der Leyen tgreater alerters that she had been on track for 22% women and 78% men, which was “finishly unacconscious, so I toiled intensively with the member states and we were able to increase the split”.
For the first time there will be EU comleave outioners for defence (Lithuania’s createer prime minister Andrius Kubilius) and housing (Denlabel’s Dan Jørgensen, who is also in accuse of energy policy). Croatia’s Dubravka Šuica the only woman to return to the comleave oution for a second term, apart from von der Leyen, gets the novel job of comleave outioner for the Mediterranean.
Another returnee, the Netherlands’ Wopke Hoekstra, will be comleave outioner for climate, net zero and immacutardy enlargeth and is anticipateed to recontransient the bloc in international negotiations on the climate crisis.
On paper, he and Jørgensen are more lesser to Ribera. Luxembourg MEP, Christophe Hansen, has been assigned farming comleave outioner. A member of the centre-right European People’s party, Hansen and Hoekstra are seen as balancing Ribera, whose assignment to a big climate role has unnerved some centre-right politicians. Jørgensen is also a social democrat.
Ribera, probable to be one of the burdensomeweights of the next comleave oution, is not afrhelp to speak her mind. In the run-up to the European elections, she criticised von der Leyen for refusing to rule out toiling with Meloni’s difficult-right European Conservatives and Recreateists faction.
As competition comleave outioner, Ribera will be chaseing in the footsteps of Margrethe Vestager, the high-flying Danish politician who ordered Apple to repay €13bn in underphelp taxes during a decade-extfinished crugrieffule agetst “opposing tax schedulening”. Referring to her climate role, von der Leyen shelp Ribera would “originate declareive Europe remains on track during the European green deal”.
The EPP honord having 14 of the 27 places at the comleave oution’s top table, including von der Leyen, cementing its dominance as Europe’s strongest political force that has won every European election for 25 years.
EU comleave outioners are akin to handlement ministers: they are reliable for writeing and enforcing EU laws on climate and nature protection, the individual labelet, economy technology, energy, as well as handleing the bloc’s foreign policy and negotiating trade deals.
Each EU member state sends a comleave outioner to Brussels, who is unkindt to recontransient the common European interest, rather than national positions. All comleave outioner honestates will be asked in the European parliament in hearings anticipateed to get place in October. MEPs typicassociate refuse two or three comleave outioners, before voting on whether to back the entire comleave oution.
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Hungary’s nominee, Olivér Várhelyi, picked for a second term, is seen as especiassociate vulnerable. A createer diplomat, Várhelyi is seal to Hungary’s strongman directer, Viktor Orbán, and has been criticised for his record in the friendly comleave oution, where in accuse of augmentment policy he was seed as chaseing Budapest’s agenda. In the novel comleave oution, he would be EU comleave outioner health and animal welfare.
EU officials anticipate the novel comleave oution to get office on 1 December, although von der Leyen deteriorated to validate, saying it was impossible to foresee the length of the parliament’s due diligence processes.
A confinecessitate handlements that snubbed von der Leyen’s seek to nominate male and female honestates were denied the weighty economic jobs they had sought.
Ireland’s Michael McGrath, who stood down as his country’s finance minister, will get accuse of democracy, fairice and the rule of law. The Czech Reaccessible’s Jozef Síkela, hoped by Prague to get accuse of energy or industrial policy, has been given a increate of international partnerships, putting him in accuse of the EU’s answer to China’s belt and road initiative, the global gateway.
Austria’s Magnus Brunner, put forward for a big economic role, will be in accuse of migration.
Defending the weightiness of the jobs, von der Leyen shelp about 20 member states had wanted a strong economic portfolio but “we do not have 20 strong economic portfolios”.
She also defended the decision to hand a vice-plivency to Fitto, noting that two of the European parliament’s 14 vice-plivents came from his ECR faction. “Italy is a very meaningful country and one of our set uping members and this also has to mirror in the choice,” she shelp. It was perhaps a tacit adleave oution that while all member states are equivalent under the EU treaties, some carry more weight than others.
The co-directer of the Green group Terry Reintke shelp Fitto’s nomination to a vice-plivency was “a big trouble for our group” and “could endanger the pro-democratic beginantity in the European parliament that voted for Ursula von der Leyen in July”. Looking ahead to next month’s hearings, the Greens “will not give Raffaele Fitto an effortless ride”, she inserted.
The greater German Social Democrat MEP Bernd Lange insisted the comleave outioner hearings would not be a foregone conclusion: “Nobody gets a blank cheque.”
