"This important step puts an end to the impasse between different political groups over the composition of the new European Commission," says Evelien Alblas, the PA adviser of the alliance in Brussels, who has closely followed the hearings with the candidates.
Resistance
The appointment of President Ursula Von der Leyen's candidates did not go very smoothly since the Christian Democrats, Social Democrats and Liberals clashed last week over the evaluation of the hearings of the 6 vice-presidential candidates. In particular, the Spanish socialist Teresa Ribera and the radical right-wing Italian Rafaele Fitto encountered resistance. S&D and Renew oppose the proposal to promote Fitto to vice-president of the executive board of the European Union, because he belongs to the Fratelli d'Italia party of Prime Minister Georgia Meloni. The EPP, on the other hand, was of the opinion that the position for Fitto was part of a broader agreement on the distribution of the European top positions. Led by the Spanish delegation, she aimed her arrows at Ribera, who was accused of not managing the recent floods in Spain properly as a minister. And the Hungarian candidate Olivér Várhelyi (Health and Animal Welfare) also raised eyebrows, as he has previously spoken very negatively about the members of the European Parliament, when he was still European Commissioner for Enlargement.
Normally, Parliament will vote on the approval of the full Commission in plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday 27 November. This way, Von der Leyen's new government team can still start work on December 1 for a period of 5 years.