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Day newsfeed

Parliament poised to confirm new Commission

November 19,2019 00:57
The most important news from Armenia on Telegram

Politico. Approval for Hungary’s candidate allows for vote on the entire team (minus the UK).

It will be a December to remember for Ursula von der Leyen.The European Parliament is poised to confirm von der Leyen and her College of Commissioners next week, allowing the EU’s new executive team, with the first-ever woman president at the helm, to take office on December 1 — following a monthlong delay.Von der Leyen, the conservative former defense minister of Germany, had been scheduled to start her term on November 1, but Parliament rejected three of her commissioner nominees, forcing new appointments by Paris, Budapest and Bucharest, and a new round of confirmation hearings.

That confirmation process wrapped up on Monday when the major political groups said they accepted the written responses to additional questions demanded of Olivér Várhelyi, the Hungarian nominee to be commissioner for neighborhood and enlargement policy.

MEPs had made clear that they wanted Várhelyi, a career civil servant currently serving as Hungary’s ambassador to the EU, to demonstrate clear and convincing independence from his current boss, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

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Orbán’s government is facing a disciplinary procedure under Article 7 of the EU Treaty, for trampling of democratic norms and values. His party, Fidesz, has been suspended from the European People’s Party, the EU’s main center-right political family, which counts von der Leyen among its members. And Orbán’s loud embrace of illiberal democracy has made him something of a public enemy among many in the Parliament.

Várhelyi got the green light from the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee after reiterating — twice — in his written responses that he would take no orders from any national government.

“I will neither be bound nor influenced by any statement or position of any Prime Minister of any country or any other representatives of any government,” Várhelyi wrote.

The Parliament must still collectively confirm von der Leyen and her entire College of Commissioners in a vote currently expected during a plenary session next Wednesday in Strasbourg, with the schedule still to be finalized by Parliament leaders in the next few days. And even before that last vote, the European Council must also approve the full list of names.

In addition, EU lawyers are expected  to issue a legal basis, and perhaps recommend further action, to allow the new Commission to take office without a British commissioner, given Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s intention to pull his country out of the EU before the new Brexit deadline of January 31. Johnson has refusal to put forward a nominee until after a national election on December 12, creating a legal hurdle for Brussels but one that officials have insisted is surmountable.

Hungary's Oliver Varhelyi | John Thys/AFP via Getty Images

Hungary’s Oliver Varhelyi | John Thys/AFP via Getty Images

As part of its effort to address all legal technicalities, the Commission last week formally launched an infringement procedure seeking to force Britain to name a commissioner. Such procedures are lengthy and there is no expectation Johnson will comply, but EU officials said the step was necessary to make clear no effort had been spared by Brussels to convince London to meet is obligation.

While the Parliament has now confirmed each of the 27 nominees individually, a spokesman for von der Leyen said the president elect was taking nothing for granted ahead of the last procedural steps, and the final vote.

“The next steps in the process are an important democratic moment that we look forward to,” the spokesman, Eric Mamer, said.

In the end, presuming things go forward as expected, the monthlong delay seems unlikely to amount to much of a setback for the new Commission, though von der Leyen’s efforts to build a College with nearly equal numbers of men and women did suffer a slight setback. The breakdown, without a U.K. commissioner, now stands to be 15 men and 12 women, including von der Leyen. Before Parliament’s rejection of two women, the French and Romanian nominees, von der Leyen had hoped for a 14-13 split.

The December 1 start date means that she would take office ahead of the British election, and so would be in place to manage the next steps in the Brexit process no matter what those turn out to be. She would also attend the December European Council leaders’ summit in her new post, rather than as a guest as she did in October.

That said, the December start also means her initial weeks in official will be quickly interrupted by the Christmas and New Year holidays, which might require her to adjust her timetable for policy initiatives that she and her team have said they would like to accomplish in their first 100 days.

In any event, von der Leyen on Monday continued preparations for taking office, holding meetings in Brussels with Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne, and European Investment Bank President Werner Hoyer.

Monday’s confirmation of Várhelyi appeared to put the final cap on a three-month-long confirmation process that showed Parliament eager to flex more muscle in Brussels, and the Commission and Council confronting a more diverse and divided assembly, in which for the first time at least three pro-EU political parties are needed for a majority — rather than just the center-right EPP and the center-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D).

Last week, MEPs, particularly those from the S&D group, refused to approve Várhelyi because of concerns about his independence. Critics have accused Orbán of meddling in the Balkans and maintaining an overly close relationship to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in addition to his flouting of core EU principles.

Some members of Parliament said they were particularly concerned about a speech made by Orbán in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, last month, where he appeared to pledge Várhelyi’s assistance to the Hungarian government’s Turkish and Azerbaijani allies.

“Hungary is currently fighting to ensure that, in this European government, Hungarians are given the portfolio of enlargement and neighborhood policy,” the prime minister said. “If we manage to secure this portfolio, we will have close cooperation with Azerbaijan on the issue of Eastern partnership, and with Turkey on the issue of membership talks. If we manage to secure this portfolio, we will gladly assist you in furthering your endeavors.”

In his written answers, Várhelyi distanced himself from the Hungarian leadership’s foreign policy positions.

Hungary's Viktor Orbán| Attila Kisbenedeck/AFP via Getty Images

Hungary’s Viktor Orbán| Attila Kisbenedeck/AFP via Getty Images

“The EU is a key trade partner of Azerbaijan, provides support to economic diversification and promotes reforms to improve the business climate. We also have a mutual interest in energy cooperation. However, I will not shy away from clearly addressing the human rights situation in Azerbaijan and raise relevant issues, e.g. political prisoners and freedom of assembly and speech, both publicly and directly with the Azerbaijani authorities at the highest levels,” the Hungarian candidate wrote.

“The same applies to Turkey. Turkey is an important partner for the EU and we have a strong interest in cooperating effectively with Turkey. However, this will not prevent me from giving unambiguous messages on issues such as the serious backsliding on rule of law and fundamental freedoms, the illegal drilling in the Mediterranean or the military incursion in Syria,” he wrote.

Hungary was the last country to not have a Commission candidate approved after the Parliament backed French businessman Thierry Breton for an expansive portfolio overseeing the internal market, industrial policy, defense and space, and Romanian MEP Adina-Ioana Vălean was backed for the transport post.

Asked whether Várhelyi would be independent of Orbán, one senior Fidesz party official told POLITICO that while no one can know for certain, “I do not think” the incoming commissioner would be “really” independent.

By ,  AND  

Main photo. The European Parliament is poised to confirm von der Leyen and her College of Commissioners next week | Tobias Schwarz/AFP via Getty Images

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