The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyenmaintains his confidence in the Spanish third vice president, Teresa Riberato become vice president of Climate Transition and Competition of the next community Executive, despite attempts to PP and Vox to destabilize it by holding it responsible for the management during the floods caused by DANA in Valencia.
“The president has given her confidence to the group of candidates for the position of commissioners and the process for confirmation is ongoing. Obviously nothing has changed with respect to this initial position,” pointed out the spokesperson for the European Commission, Eric Mamerasked about whether Von der Leyen maintains confidence in Ribera.
However, The community spokesperson has refused to comment on the hearings in the European Parliament to validate the commissioners appointed by Von der Leyen, after the examination last Tuesday of Ribera was marked by harsh criticism from the European People’s Party and the extreme right to his management during DANA, specifically, as responsible for the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation.
Asked if the president of the Community Executive shares the opinion of her European political family (European People’s Party) that Ribera is “responsible” for the crisis and should not be part of the next Commissionthe spokesperson indicated that Ribera was appointed by the Spanish authorities to the position of commissioner and Von der Leyen “gave him his trust” and proposed her for the position. A trust that, as he later added, it hasn’t changed.
Ribera’s parliamentary hearing last Tuesday was marked by questions from the PP and the far-right party Vox, which They held the third vice president of the Spanish Government responsible for the tragedy in Valencia and to which popular deputies from France, Germany, Finland and Italy joined to ask about different aspects of crisis management.
Ribera responded that it was not the prediction alerts that failed in the DANA case, but “alerts to the population and measures to protect the population” which are the responsibility of the Government of the Generalitat Valenciana (led by the PP)while criticizing those who “undermine the credibility” of public institutions and advocated for a greater climate prevention.
The evaluation of Ribera and those of the other five candidates for vice-president of the new Commission will not take place until next week, after the European People’s Party (EPP) has forced a delay in meetings to assess its performance.
Von der Leyen meets this Wednesday with the heads of the European parliamentary groups of the EPP, the Social Democrats and the Liberals to try to unblock the formation of the new community Executiveas reported by parliamentary sources.
The community spokesperson has refused, however, to confirm this meeting and has limited himself to pointing out that the president “is constantly in contact with her interlocutors in the European Parliament, in the institutions, in the Member States”, without commenting on their content.
“The president hopes and wishes that the new college of commissioners “You can start your work as quickly as possible.”he stated.
Social Democrats threaten to break up the coalition
The social democratic group in the European Parliament (EP) has threatened to break the coalition with popular and liberals which supports the European Commission (EC) chaired by Ursula von der Leyen.
The Social Democrats have also stated that The EPP “has broken the historic pro-European and democratic agreement” between the three parliamentary groups in an “irresponsible” manner.
“We are ready to assume our responsibility and act in the pro-European interest of the citizens who placed their trust in us in the elections. It is up to the European People’s Party to explain its position.”the social democratic group said in a statement.
The Social Democrats and Liberals spent Wednesday morning meeting separately to assess their political response to the EPP’s maneuvers to postpone without a date the evaluations of the six designated executive vice presidents of the new European Commissionincluding Teresa Ribera.
In their statement, the Social Democrats have criticized that the EPP has the three-way agreement was broken “for the sake of a destructive agenda of the Spanish Popular Party” to attack Ribera.
“The Spanish Popular Party is trying to make Teresa Ribera the scapegoat for his failure when it comes to managing the floods (…) and has taken the EPP hostage, taking the entire European Union (EU) on the edge of the abyss in the most irresponsible way”accuse the social democrats.
In parallel, the head of the liberal group, Valerie Hayerhas urged all parties to “return to the negotiating table, assume responsibilities and avoid a political collapse” of the next EC.
“We urge the president of the European Commission to act to overcome this blockade and build bridges,” Hayer said in a statement without questions in which he insisted on the survival of a coalition that must be “strong, centrist, responsible.”
“This format is the only viable starting point to move forward”Hayer added.
The leaders of the three political groups met this Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. local time with the president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to try to unblock the situation.
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