The hearing before the European Parliament of the third vice-president, Teresa Ribera, to take the exam for candidacy for vice-president of the European Commission ended with a lot of tumult and shortcomings around the management of the government Dana, who claimed more than 300 people live in Spain. However, the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, indicated this Wednesday that maintains his confidence in Ribera to become vice-president of Climate Transition and head of Competition during the next legislative cycle.
“The president has given her confidence to the group of candidates for commissioners and the confirmation process is underway. Nothing has obviously changed from this initial position.” said European Commission spokesperson Eric Mamer at the daily press conference.
Ribera “is the one designated by the Spanish authorities to the post of commissioner. The European Parliament has a hearing process underway”, indicated the community spokesperson, specifying that the process is in the confirmation phase of the candidates. To this end, Von der Leyen maintains close contact with his interlocutors in the European Parliament and the Member States, explained Mamer, who ruled out speaking at each meeting of candidates for the College of Commissioners.
What he made clear is that he expects the new college of commissioners to “you can start your work as quickly as possible” and avoided making “any comments on yesterday’s discussion” during Ribera’s hearing.
The examination of the Spanish candidate for the European Commission was marked by criticism from political groups, mainly from Spanish Popular Party and Vox, in the leadership of the Government in front of the Dana of Valencia. They criticized him for his lack of responsibility, his lack of response to such an extreme situation and the popular MEP Dolors Monserrat even suggested that Ribera should answer for his actions in court.
The future vice-president of the community made a mistake. His speech focused on defending the government’s actions regarding storm warnings. In addition, blamed the Valencian executive of Carlos Mazón due to the lack of response to the government’s notification. “Not taking alerts seriously” has “catastrophic consequences,” he stressed.
Even though the vote on whether the Spaniard would pass the European Parliament exam was due to take place on Tuesday evening, the People’s Party forced it to be postponed until next week. In agreement with the liberals and socialists, the vote not only for Ribera but also for the six candidates for the community vice-president was postponed until next week in an attempt to condition the salvation of some on that of others. Such a delay could, in turn, delay the launch of the next college of commissioners.
Candidates need the support of two-thirds of the European Parliament coordinators to be approved for the position. If this approach fails, as was the case with the Hungarian candidate for commissioner, I should take an assessment with some written questions.
