The socialist Teresa Ribera passed the first filter of the European Parliament to access the vice-presidency of the European Commission by voting against the PP of Alberto Núñez Feijóo. The Legal Affairs Commission (JURI) has without problem validated the declaration of assets of the Spanish candidate and the 25 other candidates, who will now have to take the exam of the commissions corresponding to the subjects of their portfolios, thanks to the support of the forces that support the majority of Ursula Von der Leyen (EPP, social democrats and liberals) from whom the Spanish PP MEPs distanced themselves, as sources close to the vote informed elDiario.es. Feijóo’s PP thus joins Patriotas por Europa, the far-right group to which Vox belongs.
Before the process of analyzing the asset declarations, the Spanish PP tried to sow doubt about Ribera by highlighting the position of her husband, Mariano Bacigalupo, within the National Securities Markets Commission (CNMV). However, the European family of the PP had no doubt that the appointment of one of the heavyweights of the future community executive would continue, largely due to the distribution of power between the political families. Groups that support the Von der Leyen majority are aware that the overthrow of one candidate can have detrimental consequences for another.
A timetable agreed between the EPP and the ultras
The JURI commission gave its approval to all the candidate commissioners during a meeting this Thursday. The procedure, however, presents shortcomings since the MEPs on this committee are limited to analyzing the documentation provided by the candidates and do not have the capacity to investigate.
The next step now is to pass the examination of the parliamentary committees, which in the case of Ribera will be those of Industry, Environment and Economy, in a joint hearing. These hearings will be held between November 5 and 12. Ribera will be examined on the last day from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., according to the schedule approved by the Conference of Presidents this Thursday.
Despite the parliamentary majority that operates in the EU (EPP, socialists and liberals, now also with the support of the Greens), the popular have brought forward the timetable of the hearings with all the ultra forces (of the ECR, the Fratelli group of ‘Italia, to Soberanistas por Europa, of which Alternative for Germany is a part, via Patriotas por Europa, where Vox joined forces with Viktor Orbán); In theory, the EPP applied the cordon santé to these formations -except ECR-, but it has already agreed on several things with the ultras, notably a resolution for the recognition of the opponent of Edmundo González as elected president of Venezuela.
The decision means that vice-presidents are the last to be subject to scrutiny by the European Chamber, where they must approve by a two-thirds majority (in the first two attempts) or a simple majority in a third vote. Socialists, liberals, Greens and the left have advocated that vice presidents be selected early in the process.
The leader of the Social Democrats, Iratxe García, criticized the EPP for having broken, once again, the cordon santé in the parliamentary agenda of the candidates’ hearings and assured that this would negatively affect the process.
