Dutch EU Commissioner Frans Timmermans has officially received the expected green light from the European Parliament to serve as the first Vice President of the European Commission under Ursula von der Leyen for the next five years. From November 1, the Dutchman will among other things be responsible for European climate policy.
A three-hour hearing on Tuesday evening did not put Timmermans in difficulty despite some critical questions. The coordinators of the political groups in Parliament delivered the decisive word on Wednesday. “He is the right man for the job.”
Most major parties in the European Parliament gave their support to the Labour Party politician, but not the Dutch members from the FvD and the Animal Party.
Polish candidate Janusz Wojciechowski can still become Commissioner for Agriculture. Earlier, the European Parliament was dissatisfied with his performance during his hearing. Wojciechowski's first hearing did not go well. In the successful retest, Wojciechowski spoke about the requirements for a fairly distributed agricultural budget.
According to Dutch Member of the European Parliament Jan Huitema (VVD), Wojciechowski barely passed his retest.
That leaves only the position of the French candidate Sylvie Goulard unclear. This French politician was Minister of Defence under President Macron for one month, but there are (major) concerns in the European Parliament about several affairs in which she has been involved in French politics. Like the Polish candidate, Goulard now has to appear for a public oral re-examination.
In the corridors of Brussels, some critics see the 'dragging out' of the French candidate mainly as 'a bit of Macron-bashing.' It was he who, from the start of the election campaign late last year, made it clear that he was opposed to the so-called 'spitzenkandidaten formula' of the European Parliament.
In this, the political leaders of the major EP groups agreed that the new President of the European Commission (the successor to Jean-Claude Juncker) could only be a politician who had been on a candidate list themselves. This was intended to give the European Parliament some control over the choice of the new President, who is nominated by the EU heads of government.
Macron received enough support from other prime ministers and presidents in his opposition, so that the candidates from the Christian Democrats (Manfred Weber) and Social Democrats (Frans Timmermans) for the top position were bypassed, and the European Parliament could only watch in protest. Sylvie Goulard may now be paying the price for this…