This Wednesday, the Spanish government officially transferred to the European Commission the candidacy of the current third vice-president and minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Therese Riberaas commissioner of the new executive of Ursula von der LeyenEuropean sources informed EFE. The government led by the socialist Pedro Sánchez sent this Wednesday by letter the candidacy of Ribera, sources indicated.
The current third vice-president and Minister of the Environment and Energy, head of the PSOE list in the last European elections even though she did not collect the minutes, was the big favourite for the Spanish candidacy.
Von der Leyen has asked the capitals to propose their candidates by August 30 and the main problem encountered so far is that the majority of the candidates, one per country, they are menwhich would move away from the parity desired by the head of the Community Executive. Once the applications have been accepted, the future Commissioners will have to undergo a written and oral hearing in the European Parliament, which will examine the suitability of each candidate and will have to support the executive as a whole.
The new European Commission would theoretically take office on December 1. Some names of the next Commission have already been designated, such as Von der Leyen herself or the future high representative for EU foreign policy, the former Estonian prime minister. Kaja Kallas.
The others have arrived in dribs and drabs and, although the complete list is not yet known, there are still few countries to present a name. After this Wednesday, it was also learned that Portugal was presenting itself as a candidate for the position of commissioner. Maria Luis AlbuquerqueSocialist Minister of Finance between 2013 and 2015, and which Denmark presents to the Minister of Development, Dan Jorgensen.
The names proposed by Italy, Belgium and Bulgariawhile the rest of the capitals have already announced their candidates, some of them already European Commissioners such as the Croatian Dubravka Suica, the Frenchman Thierry Breton, the Latvian Valdis Dombrovskis, the Dutchman Wopke Hoekstra, the Hungarian Oliver Varhelyi or the Slovak Maros Sefcovic.
Swedish candidate joins list of names Jessica RoswallFinnish Virkkunen HennaLuxembourgish Christopher HansenRomanian Victor Negrescuthe Austrian Magnus BrunnerCzech Joseph Sikelathe greek Apostolos Tzitzikostasthe Irish Michael McGraththe maltese Glenn MicallefPolish Piotr SerafinSlovenian Tomaz Veselthe Cypriot Costas Kadis and Lithuanian Andrei Kubilius.
Ribera thanks Sánchez for his trust
The Third Vice-President and Minister of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Therese Riberawas “very honoured” by the confidence placed in me by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, in proposing me as a candidate for the post of European Commissioner.
“I wish to contribute to the construction of the European dream and to the response to current challenges in accordance with the proposal presented by Ursula von der Leyen” Ribera shared on his social networks.
