Former leader of the Greens in the European Parliament, Philippe Lamberts, will be one of the advisors to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The choice serves to reassure i Greens on the fact that the new executive does not intend to abandon the Green Deal and to rely, in this legislature, on the votes of the radical right of the Chamber as the leader of the People’s Party Manfred Weber would like.
The nomination
“For me, the Green group is part of the pro-European majority in the European Parliament, as the platform with which I want to continue working, for example on issues such as achieving climate objectives, Clean Industrial Goddessl, reduction of bureaucracy and global commitment,” von der Leyen said in a statement. The main task of the 61-year-old Belgian Lamberts, will be to “help support the transition to a climate-neutral economy” , we read in a note from the executive. The politician “will play an advisory role in the realization of the climate objectives for 2030, with the aim of achieving climate neutrality by 2050”, we read further in the text.
Verdi back on board
The first effect of the choice is that the Greens, or at least a good part of them, have retraced their steps and decided that they will vote confidence in the college of commissioners in the vote to be held tomorrow, Wednesday 27 November, at the Strasbourg plenary. The group, which has 53 deputies, had unitedly supported the president in the July vote but was now intent on voting against the college, criticizing the choice to entrust Raffaele Fitto, a member of the radical right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists group, with the prestigious role of executive vice president.
Now, however, some of the national delegations have changed their minds and in a meeting of the group “a small majority” expressed themselves to vote in favor of the von der Leyen Commission, announced the two co-presidents Terry Reintke and Bas Eickhout. The support of half of the Greens should allow the German People’s Party to significantly exceed the absolute majority of 361 votes in the 720 seats of the European Parliament. The president could also come close to the threshold of 401 votes obtained in July, because although some national socialist delegations, such as the French one, have also announced their vote against, von der Leyen has gained the support of part of the ECR, to starting from Fratelli d’Italia.
