This weekend, the new European Commission under the leadership of new president Ursula von der Leyen was supposed to take office, but for the time being, the current commission led by Jean-Claude Juncker is still handling affairs. The start date of the new EU Commission has been postponed from November 1 to December 1, and may have to be postponed again because not all 27 or 28 commissioners have been confirmed. Consequently, the European Parliament has not yet given its approval for the European Commission.
The new European commissioner from three countries is not yet definitively known. The Romanian, French, and Hungarian candidates were previously rejected in the European Parliament. Von der Leyen has already accepted two new candidates: the French politician Thierry Breton and the Hungarian EU ambassador Oliver Varhelyi.
The two newcomers are now preparing for their hearings. This process will take at least two weeks. Approval of the full Commission is expected to take place in the last week of November in Strasbourg. A candidate commissioner from Romania is still awaited, as the country is in a domestic political deadlock. It currently has a minority government in office. It will only become clear next week whether the new Orban government obtains confidence in the Romanian parliament. Additionally, presidential elections are scheduled for next week.
At the same time, Von der Leyen is forced to wait. If the Orban government gains the parliament’s confidence next week, a new candidate can be named quickly. The names of Adina Valean and Siegfried Muresan, both Members of the European Parliament, have been circulating for some time.
If the new Romanian government does not secure confidence, the delay could last significantly longer and the Commission’s start on December 1 would be impossible. In that case, the earliest start would be January 2020. This would bring up a new problem: whether or not there will be a British Commissioner.
As long as the British remain in the European Union, they must also be represented in the EU institutions. Now that the Brexit deadline has been extended to January 31, 2020, London will be asked to nominate a candidate for the von der Leyen Commission. This means that anti-EU politician Boris Johnson, in his election campaign for December 12, must designate a new British EU commissioner.
Preparations are also underway in the European Parliament for hearings of the French candidate Thierry Breton. The new rules require that the legal committee first screens the candidates for their financial interests and searches for possible conflicts of interest. Only afterward will the oral questioning by the relevant parliamentary committees take place.
Breton, who is CEO of the technology company Atos, has already promised that he will not hold shares in the company if he becomes EU commissioner. Breton will take on the heavy portfolio of Industrial Policy, Internal Market, Defence, and Digitalisation.