No U-turn, no upheaval in the area Cesarini: Ursula von der Leyen is preparing to close the first round of the very complicated game of composing the new Commission. Barring any unexpected developments, on Wednesday he will communicate to the presidents of the groups of theEurochamber roles and duties that he intends to assign to the 26 candidates for the executive EU. He will do so in a climate of very high tension and in front of a majority that, above all on the choice to give to Raffaele Fitto there Executive Vice-Presidencyseems to be heading towards a sensational split. After the vehement protest of the Liberalswere in fact the Greens to send a clear warning to of der Leyen: to place Dense at the top of Berlaymont Building could split the pro-European coalition.
Those that will precede the meeting between of der Leyen and the group leaders are expecting hectic hours, marked by contacts and meetings away from the spotlight, and by a tactic in which, more than the names, the internal political balances seem to count.EU. Among the pro-European parties, the inclusion of the Italian minister is seen as a first clear sign of the two-oven policy that of der Leyen could use atEurochamberplaying on variable majorities that sometimes include – in addition to the PPE – i Greensi Liberals hey Socialists and other times instead they avail themselves of the support of Conservatives And Reformists.
von der Leyen «she was elected in July only because she also got our votes and not those of the far right, that’s why Commission must not suddenly move to the right”, thundered the co-president of the Greens, Terry Reintke. I Greens in fact they were decisive, giving their support in exchange for a permanent entry into the majority which instead in a good part of the PPE it is frowned upon to say the least.
Denseas the days went by and despite his reputation as a man of dialogue with the European institutions, he thus became part of a wider battle, which also saw the participation of Socialists. The French and German delegations, in particular, have expressed growing discontent with the choices made by of der Leyen. One above all, not having made decisive efforts – this is the accusation – to convince the Luxembourg government to change its candidate, the popular Christophe Hansen with Nicholas Schmitt, Spitzenkandidat socialist in the European elections. That same determination, however, of der Leyen she put it in place to increase the quota of female commissioners. The Sloveniaafter the Romaniain the end he nominated the former diplomat Martha Kos after the withdrawal of Tomaz Vesel. The problem, for the Pseis that it has only 4 members out of 27 in Commission. But it was the same group leader Iratxe García Perez to preach calm in view of the hearings of the individual commissioners.
von der Leyen It now seems to be oriented towards six executive vice-presidencies: beyond Dense (with the delegation for Economic Affairs, the Recovery and the Cohesion) there would be Valdis Dombrovskis (with the portfolio of Ukrainian Enlargement and Reconstruction), Thierry Breton (with delegation to Industry and Strategic Autonomy), Teresa Ribera (Climate and Transition), Maros Sefcovic (Simplification and Implementation) and the High Representative EU for the Foreign Policy Kaja Kallas. von der Leyen wants to get to the bottom of the ad hoc commissioner for the Defensewhich could be the Polish candidate or one of the three Baltics. The issue is that the game is not over. In the hearings one or more candidates could fall and in the plenary the majority could waver again. von der Leyenformally, would still remain president. But perhaps irremediably weakened.