The European Commission was authorized by Parliament with its lowest help ever and it’s unclear which political teams will probably be in a position to depend on. But that is not essentially a foul factor for Ursula von der Leyen.
The new European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen has obtained the inexperienced gentle from Parliament, however the final result of the vote portends stormy waters somewhat than clean crusing.
The 370 votes in favor symbolize 54% of the entire votes solid, and even fewer (51%) of the entire variety of deputies, 719. For one motive or one other, just one legislator in two was in a position to help the brand new school of commissioners .
This is the smallest majority in historical past for a brand new Commission and, in hindsight, there will not be any steady majority throughout the five-year legislature.
How many teams will kind the bulk?
The outcomes of the votes spotlight how the three centrist teams that shaped the bulk within the earlier legislature have been unable to ensure a easy majority within the Chamber.
The European People’s Party (EPP), the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and Renew Europe obtained a complete of 308 votes, removed from the 360 vote threshold.
For totally different causes, the centre-right EPP and the centre-left S&D group suffered important defections. Spain’s Partido Popular, a member of the EPP with 22 deputies, voted in opposition to the brand new constituency as a result of it consists of Spanish vice-president Teresa Ribera, a member of the rival centre-left PSOE (S&D) get together.
Belgian and French socialists objected to von der Leyen’s selection of right-wing Italian conservative Raffaele Fitto as vice chairman, who additionally misplaced votes from a pair of Italian socialist MEPs. The 14 German S&D MEPs voted in opposition to or abstained.
This doesn’t imply that these teams will at all times be divided on legislative points, however it does imply that to safe a majority to cross laws, some type of political crutch will doubtless be wanted, each from the best and the left of the chamber.
“I feel we may additionally discover a consensus, an settlement with the Greens on the one hand, or with the European conservatives and reformists on the opposite,” David McAllister, a distinguished and veteran German EPP MP, advised Euronews.
EPP chief Manfred Weber had at all times foreseen this, who in a press convention the day earlier than the vote predicted a “broad middle within the European Parliament, from the Greens to the ECR”.
However, neither the Greens nor the ECR absolutely supported the European Commission. The Greens/EFA group was divided, with 27 votes in favour, 19 in opposition to and 6 abstentions, whereas the ECR had 39 MPs in opposition to, 33 in favor and 4 abstentions.
Greens and conservatives at odds with one another
Above all, these two teams don’t appear desperate to collaborate with one another.
“There is not any actual majority within the European Union at the moment. (…) Manfred Weber thinks that someday will probably be in a position to flip to the far proper to construct relationships or alliances, destroying environmental legal guidelines particularly. And then the subsequent day, when it fits him, flip to the coalition of democrats and pro-European forces. It is totally unworthy,” Green MEP Marie Toussaint, who voted in opposition to the faculty alongside together with her whole French delegation, advised Euronews.
Other Green members voted in favor of the brand new Commission, however proceed to underline their disagreement with what they see as a transparent shift to the best. “We nonetheless have basic points with Fitto as govt vice chairman and we actually suppose that is a mistake. But additionally it is clear that we need to work now,” Greens/EFA co-president Bas Eickhout advised Euronews after the vote.
On the opposite hand, the conservative MEPs who supported the Commission argue that their selection was made exactly to reverse the Green Deal and alter the insurance policies of the earlier legislature. “There may very well be totally different numbers on this Parliament in comparison with the earlier one. I feel that the position of European conservatives will likely be to actually shift the axis of this European legislature to the best”, Carlo Fidanza, head of the Fratelli d’Italia delegation, the most important within the ECR, tells euronews.
ANNOUNCEMENTMPs from the Polish PiS get together, a member of the ECR, voted in opposition to the Commission, however this didn’t fear ECR co-president Nicola Procaccini, who recalled the group’s custom of permitting delegations freedom of selection.
Nor does he really feel a part of a brand new majority, certainly, in his phrases, “there is no such thing as a majority”.
“In the EU the Commission isn’t tied to nearly all of the European Parliament. Last time there was no “Ursula majority” and there is not now both. Each vote can have a distinct majority, primarily based on the content material,” he mentioned at a press convention.
This is the prevailing feeling in Strasbourg after the vote, and the president of the European Commission in all probability is aware of it. Ursula von der Leyen by no means talked about the phrase “majority” in her lengthy speech presenting the faculty of commissioners to Parliament, nor did she point out the political teams on which she intends to rely.
ANNOUNCEMENTIts mantra stays cooperation with “pro-EU”, “pro-Ukraine” and “pro-rule of legislation” political forces, adaptable to the Greens or Conservatives relying on the circumstances and matters in query.
On the opposite hand, the European Parliament can proceed its legislative work even when fractured and with an unstable majority, in keeping with German socialist MP René Repasi, who believes that the “actual work” is finished at a technical degree within the European Parliament’s committees.
“(This scenario) principally signifies that we have to have extra confidence that the compromise amendments formulated at committee degree will likely be revered by the plenary,” he advised Euronews. “If we desk compromise amendments in committee, we do not reopen them right here in plenary. I feel there’s a manner ahead.”
