In the European Parliament, there are two open wars whose outcome is unpredictable. Neither the soldiers nor most of the generals in the groups involved even know how this will end. On the one hand, the European People’s Party, aligned with that of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, in a battle of attrition against the Spanish candidate Teresa Ribera, whom Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the conservative family, placed in the juicy portfolio of Competition and just and clean transition. On the other hand, the socialists maintain their “no” to the support of the far-right candidate Giorgia Meloni, Raffaele Fitto, for another vice-presidency, and consider that his appointment to the direction of the new European Commission means a violation of the pact of the EPP, the S&D and the liberals (Renew) who confirmed the German’s second mandate.
All stages are open after an intense day of high tension during which the vice-presidential candidates were examined and the threat of an explosion is on the table. In fact, Von der Leyen has been forced to put things in order and will meet at 1 p.m. with spokespeople from groups that support her mandate.
Feijóo’s PP deployed all its artillery on Tuesday and even sent a battalion to Brussels for the hearing of socialist Teresa Ribera, which became the most tense hearing of the 26 that took place in the last two weeks. In the European Parliament, we are accustomed to the Spanish politicization of debates, but Ribera’s questioning went beyond the limits. The popular Spaniards have sowed doubt about the Spanish candidate and even suggested that she could be indicted for the management of DANA, during which more than 200 people died.
The Spanish PP, celebrating
The popular Spaniards celebrated their victory that day in a festive atmosphere: Teresa Ribera’s assessment was delayed. “I was going to be crowned today and that will not be the case,” said sources from the Spanish PP. That Feijóo managed to postpone this decision is a half-truth. The day before, the three spokespersons for the “Von der Leyen majority” had agreed that the evaluations of the vice-presidents – and of the Hungarian far-right commissioner, who is the only one not to have obtained approval – would be carried out in block. In this way, the candidates examined at the end of the day were able to avoid being taken as “hostages” (as part of an agreement between the EPP and far-right forces).
The socialists consider that the EPP betrayed them the following morning, when the EPP declared that this postponement would be until next week and attributed it to the need for Ribera to first be held accountable to Congress (this which he will do at his own request on December 20). “We hope that Teresa Ribera will answer all open questions about her responsibilities as minister before the Spanish Parliament before seeking new responsibilities in Europe. We cannot afford to impose on the new commission legal and political responsibilities arising from the previous executive position of a new commissioner,” declared EPP leader Manfred Weber after Ribera’s questioning, following after the Genoa debate.
This position aroused astonishment within the socialist group, which still considers that the agreement reached on Monday evening was limited to carrying out all the evaluations at the same time, so as not to delay them until next week. And the anger they feel against the group led by Iratxe García is enormous. And the message they send is clear: without Ribera and with Fitto as vice-president, they will not vote in favor of the entire College of Commissioners during the plenary session scheduled for the last week of November.
Failure of the PP in the international press
The EPP also suggested when examining Ribera that it did not find her “suitable” for the vice-presidency of Competition and Fair and Clean Transition. Will the people succeed in overthrowing the centerpiece of the socialists? This question is also not answered in the Feijóo PP, which of course made it clear that this was its ultimate objective.
For the moment, they are content with the delay in the nomination and the reading that will be made of their approach in the international press. “Tomorrow, all the newspapers in Europe will talk about Ribera blocking five vice-presidents. All of Europe will know about the ‘Ribera case’,” sources close to Feijóo said.
However, the matter has gone largely unnoticed by the European bubble press, which attributes the tension of Ribera’s interrogation to matters of national politics. Politico, for example, speaks of a “shit show” in which deputies from the Spanish European People’s Party “tried to shift the blame for the disaster to Ribera, in an attempt to divert attention from the center-right regional president Carlos Mazón, who is under pressure. resign for his poor management of the crisis. “Under Spanish law, regional authorities are responsible for handling emergency situations, but center-right MEPs have joined members of the far-right group Patriotas. [el grupo del que forma parte Vox] to try to attribute responsibility for the tragedy to Ribera. “His repeated mentions of this issue have infuriated lawmakers in other countries, eager to discuss issues related to the commissioner-designate’s portfolio,” the report said.
But Feijóo’s PP strategy is, from his point of view, “win-win”. If they manage to suspend Ribera it will be a success because that is what they had planned from the first moment. However, this would mean dealing a blow to the “Von der Leyen majority” and Germany would struggle to advance its college of commissioners – and if it were to achieve this based on the liberals’ position, it would be with far-right voices. In the event that blood does not flow freely and Von der Leyen manages to reorient the situation, the PP has already succeeded in sowing doubt about Ribera’s management in an attempt to weaken it.
