Third Vice-President Teresa Ribera already has one foot in Brussels, where she spent a few days, and met with her future boss, Ursula von der Leyen, to work out the details of her future position at the European Commission. “I spoke with the president, like all my colleagues, and we are waiting,” he told reporters upon arrival at an event organised by the think tank Brueghel.
“The President collects the candidates’ final impressions [propuestos por los estados miembros]”He must finish calibrating the organisation of the collegiate team, which must function well, with the great challenges and political guidelines that he has set for the European Parliament at such a critical time for Europe. With a little patience, we will manage to resolve and be able to comment on the challenges and responsibilities that have been entrusted to me,” added Ribera, who did not want to comment on the “pools” published regarding his functions.
According to the German newspaper Welt, the Spanish candidate would be in charge of the Social, Digital and Green Transition portfolio with the rank of vice-president in the future European Commission. Pedro Sánchez’s intention has always been for Ribera to occupy such a relevant position and go beyond the energy portfolio in which Ribera has earned the respect of his European colleagues in recent years.
In the composition of the future community government, not only the skills of the candidates come into play, but also geographical balances and political affiliation. Spain will therefore have a significant weight in the future government, as it is the largest country governed by the socialists (after Germany, represented by Von der Leyen on the basis of the agreement of the leaders).
According to media “pools”, the far-right Giorgia Meloni would also obtain a vice-presidency, in this case for the Economy, for her candidate, Raffaele Fitto. Meloni abstained from the nomination of Von der Leyen as candidate (and voted against António Costa as President of the European Council and Kaja Kallas as High Representative) to maintain ties with the German, although Fratelli d’Italia assured that it had voted against his nomination to the European Parliament in July.
Von der Leyen’s other demand is that the European Commission be equal, although the goal has been difficult for her since the majority of EU governments have sent her exclusively male candidates, although in a letter she asked the presidents or prime ministers who proposed two names (one man and one woman). “If you don’t ask for it, you don’t get it, it’s not something that happens naturally,” the German acknowledged at a press conference.
Only seven countries, including Spain and Vice President Teresa Ribera, have nominated women, in addition to Bulgaria, which was the only one to meet the requirement to present two candidates. Von der Leyen is in talks with the capitals and hopes that someone else will change their mind and propose a woman to increase female representation in her cabinet, which ended the term with full parity, despite an initial imbalance (16 to 11).
The President of the European Commission has acknowledged that she has not finished examining all the candidates. However, the intention is to present the proposal for the College of Commissioners to the European Parliament next Wednesday, 11 September. From there, the European Parliament will evaluate the candidates and may reject some of them (in the previous legislature, it rejected the proposals of France and Hungary). On this occasion, the Hungarian Commissioner, Olivér Várhelyi, is on a tightrope due to the clashes he has had with the political groups during this term. Once the European Parliament has approved the candidates, the new European Commission will take office on 1 November, although the process could be delayed.
