“The most powerful job ever created in the EU executive,” says the influential outlet Politico: “A job that combines the roles of competition chief, net-zero architect and economic transformer.” And it adds: “Ursula von der Leyen has a dream for Europe. Teresa Ribera is destined to make it happen. The European Commission president on Tuesday tapped the Spanish climate expert to become one of the European Union’s most influential figures, tasked with charting the bloc’s path to a prosperous, green future. “It may be the most powerful job ever created in the EU executive: a job that combines the roles of competition chief, net-zero architect and economic transformer.”
As Vice-President for Green Transition and Competition, she will have to reformulate the state aid system to boost European competitiveness without fragmenting the single market and defend the green agenda, whose momentum has slowed in recent months.
Ribera will be tasked with “developing a new state aid framework to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy, deploy industrial decarbonization and ensure sufficient manufacturing capacity for clean technologies,” according to Von der Leyen’s mission letter. In other words, she must rethink the 27-member model to face the subsidy war between the United States and China without producing, as has happened in recent years, a fragmentation of the single market because Germany, which has incomparable fiscal power, injects millions into its industry to compete with other powers, but to the detriment of the rest of its European partners.
“Ribera,” Politico continues, “is the one Von der Leyen is entrusting with implementing her global vision. And Ribera has been given a project: a comprehensive report by former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi that argues for Europe to renew its economic fortunes through a more powerful EU and the ecological transition. It’s a diagnosis that Ribera broadly shares.
The Financial Times, for its part, explains that “Spain’s Teresa Ribera, the European Commission’s top socialist, will be one of six executive vice-presidents, tasked with overseeing a “clean, fair and competitive transition,” which includes the powerful competition policy portfolio as Europe’s antitrust regulator. In a letter to Ribera, von der Leyen says she will have to “modernise EU competition policy,” including by revising merger approval guidelines, developing a “new state aid framework” to accelerate green investment and simplifying rules for state support for companies.”
In this sense, Bloomberg highlights that “Spaniard Ribera wins a key role in the bloc’s antitrust watchdog.” Thus, the renowned economic media outlet states: “Teresa Ribera has been appointed to take charge of the powerful antitrust portfolio and oversee the transition to clean energy. In a predominantly male Commission, Ribera, vice-president of the Spanish government, will occupy a leading position in overseeing transition and competition policy. The 55-year-old has always been one of the most ambitious on climate issues in the European Green Deal. But she is also pragmatic: during the Spanish presidency of the EU Council, she managed to smooth over differences between Germany and France on nuclear energy and helped lead climate negotiations at COP29 in Dubai last year.”
Bloomberg adds: “Ribera will be tasked with enforcing the bloc’s arsenal of antitrust rules against some of the world’s largest companies. That includes investigations into Google, Gucci, Red Bull and Apple, as well as the bloc’s merger rules at a time of growing consolidation in the telecoms, technology and airline sectors. We will also enforce Europe’s new law on big tech companies, the Digital Markets Act, and monitor foreign subsidies to the EU that could distort competition.”
“Spanish socialist Teresa Ribera, climate expert and minister under Pedro Sánchez, has inherited a broad portfolio dedicated to ecological transition and could play a leading role in the new team in Brussels,” Le Monde believes.
