The EU is entering unknown territory if in the coming days the people (PPE), socialists (S&D) and liberals (Renew) do not redirect a situation that exploded last week and that threatens the majority that supports the European coalition, leading to an unprecedented crisis in the event that the blood reaches the river and the new European Commission does not obtain the approval of the European Parliament. The following of Manfred Weber’s European People’s Party to the delegation of Alberto Núñez Feijóo against the appointment of Teresa Ribera as vice president of Competition and Fair and Clean Transition, distancing itself from the president, Ursula Von der Leyen, of her own party, and the flirtation of the popular with the extreme right, with the intention that socialists and liberals support Giorgia Meloni’s candidate, Raffaele Fitto, as vice president, are the reasons that summarize the confrontation.
Everything blew up on Tuesday, but to understand what happened you have to go back to a day before. The day before the six vice presidents appointed by Von der Leyen underwent the examinations of the European Parliament, Feijóo spoke with Weber and managed to get the leader of the European Popular Party to align with his strategy of wearing down Ribera and, with it, the Government by Pedro Sánchez. For the German leader it was not a problem given the tense clash he had with the Spanish president in the European Parliament almost a year ago and nor the fact of complicating the life of Ursula von der Leyen, who took his position five years ago and with whom He doesn’t have a good relationship. For the socialists, Weber also achieved a 3×1 because the support of Feijóo’s PP (which is the second largest) is guaranteed at the congress that the EPP will hold at the end of April or May 2025.
After that conversation, Weber agreed with his socialist counterparts, Iratxe García, and liberal counterparts, Valérie Hayer, that the evaluations of the vice presidents would be done at the same time. This meant, in practice, a retreat from the position of the EPP, which had agreed with the extreme right to leave the leadership of the new European Commission for last and, specifically, for Ribera to be the last to pass the exam for that his destiny was linked to that of the Italian Fitto. The maneuver was understood later, when the PPE left the set of evaluations for the following week under the argument that Ribera had to first give explanations in the Spanish Congress for the management of the DANA. Once in the examination of the Spanish socialist, in which Feijóo’s PP even suggested that she could end up accused of the catastrophe, the strategy of attrition became clear.
“The postponement of the evaluations was agreed. “Leaving it for the following week was a unilateral decision not informed to either the liberals or the socialists,” they point out in the group led by García, who consider that that day there was “a before and after” in the relationship with the popular ones. with those who ‘govern’ in the EU. The “mistrust” at this moment is total, the negotiation has fallen fallow, although contacts continue, and the result of what happens from now on is uncertain.
The Spanish PP’s move is, in principle, short-term. What I wanted was for Ribera not to be elected that Tuesday. “She was going to be anointed as vice president today, and she is not going to be,” sources from Genoa pointed out when Sánchez’s candidate was still undergoing a tough parliamentary confrontation, which had nothing to do with the hearings of the rest of the commissioners. And once the objective was achieved, which means paralyzing the process also for the rest of the candidates at least until next week, the Spanish PP went celebrating.
The differences between the PPE and Feijóo
From there, there is the question of how far Weber is willing to go in his support of the Spanish Popular Party and, consequently, in his fight against socialists and liberals. The gaps in the strategy did not take long to emerge. When the parliamentary hangover still lasted in Brussels, Feijóo appeared to demand a new candidate for the Sánchez Government. By then, Ursula von der Leyen had already stated that she maintained her support for Ribera intact. Weber did not join that claim either, but instead opened up to support Ribera if she had previously promised to resign if she were prosecuted by DANA.
Ribera refers to the code of conduct of the European Commission, which establishes that its members will resign if the president asks them to do so. And for the socialists there are no preconditions that are valid in exchange for the support that they consider that the popular ones should give based on the agreement that allowed Von der Leyen’s re-election last July. “We are only going to respect this agreement between the three families and not enter into any other type of negotiation,” they warn in the socialist ranks.
The notice, however, has more to do with the EPP’s attempt to force socialists and liberals to support Meloni’s candidate as vice president of the new community government, which would mean elevating the European leadership to the extreme right for the first time. This designation was part of Von der Leyen’s approach to the far-right Italian prime minister and serves the EPP in its flirtation with the ultra forces in the European Parliament, with which they can achieve an alternative majority that they have already used on several occasions, breaking the old cordon. sanitary. In fact, the popular ones in the package include the Hungarian commissioner, Olivér Várhelyi.
“When a rope is stretched too tight, it breaks,” they warn in the socialist ranks, where they feel humiliated by the agreements that in just five months the popular have reached with the ultras (the last one this week to weaken a law on the agenda green). “The EPP has to decide if it wants to be in the pro-European alliance. They have two possible majorities. They are not going to use us so that from time to time they whiten their faces and then on a day-to-day basis they are in another alliance,” these sources point out.
With these wickers, the scenarios are varied. One of them is for Manfred Weber’s PP to distance itself from its Spanish delegation and allow Ribera to be approved, unblocking the situation. From then on, Fitto’s fringe would remain, but his candidacy can go ahead in any case because in a second vote only a simple majority is required (and the popular ones can achieve it with the three forces of the extreme right).
Either all or none
If the blockade persists and the European Parliament does not approve Ribera, the ball will remain in Von der Leyen’s court. The European Parliament does not have the power to remove a candidate individually because its opinion in that part of the process is not binding but rather makes a recommendation. If that happens, the German could ask for another name from Spain – which is what has happened on many occasions. But Sánchez could refuse to make another proposal given that the appointment of commissioners corresponds to the member states (and the attribution of functions within the College of Commissioners, to its president).
With a new name or with that of Ribera without having gone through the previous procedure, the European Parliament would vote for the entire College of Commissioners. And there each one would have to reveal their cards. Would the EPP be able to vote against its own commissioners, who are the vast majority (fourteen) and overthrow the European Commission of its co-religionist Von der Leyen in an unprecedented maneuver in the EU? Would the EPP break in that vote? The socialists would have to answer the same questions regarding Fitto. If the Italian finally remains as vice president, would you vote in favor of the community government? “I don’t know what is going to happen,” say S&D sources about the complex process that lies ahead.
For the moment, the procedure has been delayed, although if it is resolved next week there would be room for the College of Commissioners to vote on November 27 in Strasbourg, as initially planned, and be ready to start work on November 1. December. If the blockade remains, it could be extended and no one sets dates. There is a precedent for delay in the second term of José Manuel Durão Barroso, which began in February and not in November, as stipulated.
Starting “as soon as possible” is what Von der Leyen has always defended and the intention that the EU governments have expressed, especially in a complex international scenario, especially due to the victory of Donald Trump for which the community club has been preparing for some time. .
#endorsement #European #Feijóos #offensive #Ribera #plunges #unprecedented #political #crisis
