European Commissioners Presentation Postponed for a Week
The delay was related to the appointment of some commissioners and the discontent of the Socialists
The European Commission postponed a meeting scheduled for September 11 to discuss with European Parliament group leaders the formation of a new team of commissioners to support Ursula von der Leyen during her second mandate.
Parliamentary sources reported this to various European media outlets, explaining that the 26-member commission is likely to be discussed on September 17 during a plenary session in Strasbourg. The decision was reportedly prompted by the candidacy of former Slovenian diplomat Marta Kos, replacing another name, which would first need ratification by the Ljubljana parliament. But according to some analysts, there was also discontent within the Socialist Party that led to the week-long postponement.
Thus, there will still be time for negotiations around the 26 European Commissioners who will be the contact persons of the Community executive in different sectors over the next five years. In particular, the idea of appointing Raffaele Fitto, a longtime member of Forza Italia (European People’s Party) and now a member of the Brothers of Italy (affiliated with the far-right European Conservatives and Reformists, ECR), raised some objections first among liberals and then among socialists.
“Ignoring the Spitzenkandidaten (“top candidates”) process, weakening the college’s gender balance, appointing an employment commissioner whose commitment to social rights is questionable at best, actively inserting the ECR into the heart of the Commission: this would be a recipe for losing progressive support,” said European Socialist Party group leader Spaniard Iratxe Garcia Perez. Fitto, on the other hand, has the support of the European People’s Party, which considers the Italian politician “a bridge builder and pro-European.”
