Commission Crunch

By Nicholas Wallace

The timeline for establishing the next European Commission looks increasingly tight: the question is not whether it will be late – it will be – but how much pressure lawmakers will be under to greenlight new commissioners.

A political holdup in Slovenia is preventing the government from submitting the nomination papers of its candidate for commissioner, Marta Kos. The gridlock in Ljubljana could make even the belated deadline of 1 December extremely difficult to meet.

Perhaps more importantly, the tighter the scheduling becomes, the greater the pressure will be on members of the European Parliament (MEPs), to approve the commission candidates they are charged with scrutinising.

Officially, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is due to reveal how she wants to divide responsibilities amongst the next crop of commissioners on Tuesday (17 September).

That would allow the European Parliament to schedule hearings – probably in mid-October – the committees that will decide whether or not to approve each commissioner for the relevant job. For example, the budget committee will decide whether to approve the candidate for budget commissioner.

But von der Leyen’s presentation is at risk of being delayed for the second time, because the Slovenian Parliament’s EU affairs committee did not, as expected, deliver its required opinion on Kos on Friday (13 September). Unless the committee meets on Monday, von der Leyen will be forced to postpone her announcement.

Slovenian law requires the committee to give its opinion by 24 September, so the holdup in Ljubljana should be resolved by then at the latest – provided the government does not collapse.

In theory, that means von der Leyen’s unveiling of the Commission portfolios would be delayed by a week or so, at worst. Sources in the EU institutions say that makes the 1 December target difficult, but not impossible.

In addition to von der Leyen’s plan, the European Parliament also needs some paperwork – such as declarations of interests – from the nominees before it can schedule the hearings.

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s unveiling of how she intends to distribute jobs to the next team of EU commissioners could be delayed yet again, due to political gridlock in Slovenia.

Europe should stop being “naive” and step up efforts to support its faltering industrial base to compete with China and the United States, Aurore Lalucq (S&D), the newly elected chair of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee told Euractiv in an interview.

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier reiterated France’s opposition to the EU-Mercosur free trade deal and confirmed his desire to seek a ‘blocking minority’, according to information obtained by Euractiv, dashing hopes of finalising the deal at the upcoming G20 summit in Brazil.

As the new government in London aims to improve relations with Brussels, energy offers clear grounds for closer EU-UK cooperation, according to expert Joël Reland from the think tank ‘UK in a Changing Europe’, who spoke to Euractiv in an interview.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen today (13 September) called for a new financial tool to reward nature protection, which takes inspiration from the EU’s carbon trading scheme.

The French draft budget, prepared over the summer by the resigning government, proposes an 18% cut to official development assistance (ODA) to tackle a soaring public deficit, raising concerns among NGOs and political leaders who warn of the impacts on international aid programmes and the country’s global commitments.

Look out for…

[Edited by Rajnish Singh]