Speaking of tough nuts to crack … The Greens, who are not represented in the European Council and hence weren’t party to or bound by any deal, are yet to be convinced. (The full list of the new vice presidents and all the results round by round are here.)
Much to the indignation of the Greens, by the way, the recommendation included voting for Hungarian Fidesz MEP Lívia Járóka. Renew Europe is likely on board, having honored the EU leaders’ deal, according to its leadership’s recommendation (which circulated around Brussels) with regards to whom to elect for Parliament’s vice presidencies. (Margrethe Vestager being the other one.) German delegation leader Jens Geier, for one, announced they’ll be making a fuss. But they’ve got a share of the spoils of war, whether they believe they’re fair or not, via the European Council deal: Sassoli has been installed in high office, and Timmermans potentially won’t need to move out of his, as one of two of the “highest-ranking vice-presidents of the Commission,” as European Council President Donald Tusk put it. Toughest crowd … might be the Socialists, who feel most hurt by the sudden death of their hopes of getting Frans Timmermans through as Commission president. Lili Bayer has more on the would-be Commission president’s stealth campaign. She has until the week after to conclude her tour. Timing: Von der Leyen’s charm offensive will kick off next Monday with a meeting with the Green group.
New Parliament chief David Sassoli told group leaders on Thursday that he’d invited her during a bilateral in Strasbourg, participants told Playbook.īig job ahead: Sassoli told the group he’d suggested von der Leyen take the task of convincing MEPs of her qualities seriously - many aren’t impressed by the way she was nominated for the Commission presidency, with leaders disregarding the Spitzenkandidat process, as Maïa de La Baume and David Herszenhorn report. VDL COMING TO TOWN: Commission presidency-nominee von der Leyen will return to Brussels next week to catch up with parliamentary groups and their leaders during a meeting of the European Parliament’s Conference of Presidents.
The European Council makes a proposal, and it’s the European Parliament which elects the Commission president - it’s as simple as that. Let’s call it a week, and start looking at the next one, when Ursula von der Leyen will be working overtime to honor those much cited and beloved EU treaties. Send tips here | Tweet Listen to Playbook and view in your browser
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