The still vice president of the Government, Teresa Ribera, has concluded his examination in the European Parliament with confidence, technical control and solvency. The candidate for vice president of the European Commission in charge of Fair and Clean Transition and Commissioner for Competition will still have to wait for the final ruling after the offensive launched by the PP in the community capital to try to overthrow his candidacy.
The seat for which Ribera is applying is one of the most powerful at Berlaymont. If her approval is confirmed, the Spanish socialist will be one of the heavyweights of the Von der Leyen Commission 2.0. Apparently, Ribera had a clear path to the corridors: he has prestige in the community capital, with the approval of Von der Leyen herself and with technical background in the area in which he is responsible. But the The instrumentalization of the Spanish right-wing forces over the DANA disaster has stood in the way of this path. With the Valencian government, chaired by the popular Carlos Mazón, immersed in endless contradictions and suffocated by criticism of its management, from Genoa they have tried to deflect the shot by putting the socialist in the center of the target.
Following the regular procedure and as originally planned, Ribera would have received the result of his exam the same night as the hearing. But The popular ones have maneuvered to delay the process as much as possible. It is expected that it will not be known until next week whether or not he passes the test. In this dilation of time, Giorgia Meloni’s candidate has played a key role. Raffaele Fitto is running for another vice presidency, but faces rejection from the Social Democrats. Thus, the popular people have sponsored the ultra politician, assuming him as one of their own and collaborating in the entire process. The new college of commissioners is already an exchange of stickers. With trust among the main forces of the Chamber increasingly diminished, it has been decided to review the six vice presidents at the same time and not individually to avoid last-minute betrayals.
Mud in the Brussels square
Different legislature, but same trend: the more than three hours of interrogation have been marked by a strong national component championed by the opposition. The PP has harshly challenged Ribera, even by former minister Ábalos. As planned, He has pointed the finger against the vice president for the management of DANA. Dolors Montserrat, leader of the PP in the European Parliament, has accused her of “hiding to save her European seat.” “This exam is totally unnecessary, 15 days ago she faced the exam of her life, as Climate Minister she failed,” the Catalan woman snapped. The PP and Vox are now asking that the vice president not only appear in the Congress of Deputies—as she will do next week—but also before the judges for DANA. “History and perhaps also the judges will judge her for her inaction and incompetence,” Montserrat said. “He should sit on the bench and not on the Commission,” said Vox MEP Jorge Buxadé.
For his part, Ribera, who began his speech by showing “support and solidarity” to those affected by DANA, responded that the regional government is in charge of sending the notice and stressed that The alerts corresponding to the central government were sent on time, as demonstrated by the limitation of activity in institutions such as the University of Valencia.
But aware of the attempts to distract and muddy the debate, the Spanish has focused on articulating a discourse in a European key, committing to maintain its neutrality in competition cases that affect Spain, to cooperate with all commissioners and not to take steps back in the fight against climate change. “My great concern is that society does not know how to assess the threat of climate change (…) The appearance of these phenomena is going to be recurrent and intense, reinforce preparation and alerts so that people can be prepared,” he noted, making a call to invest “to be more resilient, strengthen alert and prevention systems.” “We must do more and better,” he added, warning that alerts save lives.
With the audience muddied by the national mud, Ribera has revealed a long list of what his priorities will be if he finally wins the job: an equitable, fair and clean transition; sustainable competitiveness; independence from fossil fuels; relaunch the community industrial fabric; simplify tax rules; complete the Single Market or create new green jobs.
Whether he makes the leap to Europe or not will be known in the coming days. Before the exam, the EPP, Social Democrats and Liberals reached a non-aggression pact by which they agreed to decide on all the vice presidents together, in a pack. The PP of Alberto Núñez Feijóo has attributed this like a personal triumphalthough His initial intention was to try to knock down Ribera in this first phase. Spain thus clouds its international image and risks letting slip one of the most powerful positions it has achieved in the EU in recent years. However, it would be difficult for Ribera not to finally pass the test. Von der Leyen, of the EPP, is interested in her second term starting as soon as possible to provide the EU with a semblance of control and certainty in the face of this increasingly volatile global scenario. It is also rare for MEPs to knock down candidates if there are no compelling reasons behind them.
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