The agreement enables the new commission to take office at the beginning of December.
20.11. 19:50•Updated 20.11. 20:15
BRUSSELS The political groups of the European Parliament have agreed on the nominations of seven commissioners, which remained deadlocked last week, news agency Reuters and Politico online magazine tell.
The group includes six vice-presidents and the Hungarian commissioner candidate. The parliamentary groups are scheduled to meet later in the evening.
The commissioner elections got stuck in a political game last week
The hearings of the EU Parliament culminated last Tuesday in the exams of the six vice-presidents. The Finnish commissioner candidate was also in the group Henna Virkkunen. Others have nothing against Virkku, but the approval was left at the feet of the power game.
The Social Democrats opposed Italy Raffaele Fitton election as vice president. Fitto represents the Prime Minister Georgia Melon Brothers of Italy party and belongs to the far-right ECR group in the parliament. In the group’s opinion, the position of line commissioner would be enough for Fitto.
In return, the center-right EPP group stopped Spain’s socialist vice-presidential candidate Teresa Ribera progression. The EPP group is suspicious of Ribera’s previous negative position on nuclear power.
Spain’s internal politics mixed in with the braking, as Spain’s center-right PP party opposes Ribera’s election. The party has accused Ribera, who is the energy minister, of the poor management of the country’s floods. Ribera defended himself in the Spanish Parliament today.
The Social Democrats have also wanted the EPP to commit to making decisions with the power of a grand coalition, which includes the EPP, the Social Democrats and the Liberals. The group resents the fact that the EPP has sometimes sought support from far-right groups. They include the national conservative ECR and the more far-right Patriots and the Sovereign Nations group.
According to media reports, the EPP has not promised that it could not cooperate on a case-by-case basis with other than the traditional coalition.
Hungarian Olivér Várhelyi were made to do further investigations. His responsibility as commissioner would be health and animal welfare.
The EU Parliament is supposed to vote on approving the entire commission in its session next week. The new commission would start its work on December 1.