The headaches and worries continue for Ursula von der Leyen, struggling with the creation of her European team. Everything was supposed to be ready by September 11, but the President of the Commission has postponed the presentation of the possible commissioners to September 17, during the plenary session in Strasbourg. At the top of the problems is the nomination of Fitto, the name persistently put forward by Giorgia Meloni. The Socialists and Liberals, who are in the majority, have put a spoke in the wheel and do not want to give in.
Then there is the issue of gender balance, which German politics cares a lot about, but which is causing slowdowns and the oil lobbies have put themselves in the way of the commissioner proposed by Spain. Finally, Bulgaria: yes, it has proposed a woman, but for her there are pending echoes of legal troubles and a suspected support for Russia. In less than a week, von der Leyen will have to try to balance, even before the European accounts as suggested by Mario Draghi, the “heads” to have at her side. Let’s look one by one at the knots that remain to be untied.
The Italian puzzle
Meloni insisted on a weighty role for Italy, a founding country, and some time ago proposed Raffaele Fitto to obtain an executive vice-presidency of the European Commission. The doubts surrounding the politician from Puglia have become increasingly dense. First the liberals expressed them, then the socialists came to close the door to the hypothesis. The two groups, both members of the majority, have publicly spoken out against granting a prestigious role to a representative of the Conservatives and Reformists (Ecr) group, officially outside the executive.
The European People’s Party, on the other hand, has not expressed objections, with Forza Italia pushing to support Fitto. The ambitions of the Italian government thus risk waning. The greatest embarrassment is for the Democratic Party, willing on paper to support the name of the Italian commissioner despite being from the Brothers of Italy. However, it is difficult to openly expose oneself against the majority of European socialists, the group in which the Democratic Party represents the largest group of elected officials. It would sound like a misstep for Schlein and company in Brussels.
Gender issues
The Commission President has repeatedly and explicitly insisted on having a gender-balanced team as much as possible. When she received an overwhelming majority of proposals with men and no female alternatives, she was not satisfied. She then decided to put pressure on some countries to change their proposals. Bulgaria and Slovenia gave in. Sofia took a step back by eliminating her male candidate, former Environment Minister Julian Popov, and presenting only Ekaterina Zaharieva, former Minister of Justice and Foreign Affairs. The nomination was however criticized by detractors for some allegations of fraud against the woman when she was in office as Minister of Justice.
Von der Leyen presents her new Commission
Even though there was no judicial follow-up, the echo of the affair has reached Brussels and is creating embarrassment for von der Leyen. Even worse would be the accusation that Zaharieva was involved in a gas pipeline project that facilitated Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, as claimed by the Bulgarian anti-corruption party Let’s continue the change. And it is well known how much von der Leyen wants people who are staunchly pro-Ukrainian at her side. Here too, a quick check will be needed. Slovenia, for its part, ended up appointing a female commissioner, but officially the vote of the parliament in Ljubljana is needed to formalize her candidacy. This situation has given von der Leyen the excuse to postpone the presentation of her team to the MEPs.
Pro-nuclear lobby against Spanish commissioner
Another tough nut to crack is the one about the commissioner proposed by Spain: Teresa Ribera. Already minister of ecological transition in the Sanchez government, Ribera had been talked about from the start as an executive vice-presidency with transversal tasks on climate and digital transition, with an eye on social aspects. The pro-nuclear lobby, aware of the anti-atomic position of Iberian politics and jurists, would have stood in her way. In the brawl, Ribera would have won with one of the most powerful portfolios in the EU: that of competition, held until now by the Danish Margrethe Vestager, capable of punishing both Apple and Google during a mandate. According to the latest rumors, Ribera will thus obtain the rank of executive vice-president and will in any case be attributed with competences on climate.
