February 17, 2025

Athens News

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The coalition agreement reached will allow the new composition of the European Commission to begin work on December 1 (video)


The centrists of the European Parliament have agreed on seven commissioner portfolios. Teresa Ribera, Pedro Sánchez's candidate, and Oliver Várhelyi, Viktor Orbán's candidate, were the most controversial candidates.

Euronews edition tellsthat the center-right European People's Party, Social Democrats and liberals from the Renewing Europe faction reached a deal on Wednesday November 20 to approve six vice-presidents of the European Commission and Hungarian Commissioner Olivier Varhelyi. This was reported by MEPs and sources in the European Parliament close to the negotiations.

Now the College of Commissioners must receive the green light on November 27 at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. If lawmakers approve the new composition of the commission, the main executive body in the European Union will be able to begin work on December 1. The agreement was preceded by a week of negotiations following hearings to approve member countries' proposals EU candidates.

In practice, this means that now deputies of the three centrist factions will be able to vote for agreed upon candidates. The most controversial was the candidacy of the vice-president for a “clean, fair and competitive transition,” Teresa Ribera, a minister of the government of Pedro Sánchez. Thus, the climate portfolio goes to the Social Democrats.

The EPP did not agree to Ribera's appointment for a long time due to the fact that in her homeland the Minister of Climate and Energy is accused of inaction during the recent floods in Valencia. The center-right has stressed that she should still resign from the commission if the Spanish judiciary formally charges her with misconduct in the disaster response.

During her speech in the Spanish parliament on Wednesday, Ribera said she had no intention of resigning and shifted responsibility to the regional right-wing authorities in Valencia.

Ursula von der Leyen's deputy for “cohesion and reform” will be the Italian Raffaele Fitto from the “European Conservatives and Reformists”, and the commissioner for “health and animal welfare” will be Viktor Orban's candidate Oliver Várhelyi.

The Left faction in the European Parliament condemned what it called a “backroom deal” that it said was a “blatant violation of procedure” and sent a letter to President Roberta Metsola about it.

According to left-wing MEPs, voting on nominated candidates for European Commissioners should take place immediately after the hearings, as provided for by the regulations of the European Parliament. But on November 12, centrist groups agreed to approve candidates for the posts of vice-chairmen as a “package” rather than individually, which led to the agreement.



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