Von der Leyen introduced the 26 members of the future college of commissioners of the European Commission.
The President of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, presented all 26 members of the future college of commissioners, who will be voted on by the European Parliament around lunchtime, to members of the European Parliament (EP) in Strasbourg on Wednesday morning. The Politico weekly pointed out that many MPs will vote against the new EC, informs TASR.
The three political groups that make up the so-called pro-European democratic coalition – the European People’s Party (EPP), the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the liberals from Renew Europe (RE) have a total of 401 seats and a solid majority.
However, voting in the European Parliament is not always governed by party discipline, and according to Politico, this will also apply on Wednesday when the European Commission approves it. Spanish and Slovenian MEPs from the EPP group have indicated they will abstain in protest against the nominations of Teresa Ribera of Spain and Marta Kosova of Slovenia.
Rebels were also found in the S&D group, where the French Socialists, some Belgian MPs want to vote against and German MEPs will abstain because they do not agree with the nomination of the Italian European Commissioner Raffaele Fitt as a representative of the extreme right.
The group of European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), which supported most of the European Commissioners during the hearings, is also divided. Each national delegation of deputies in the ECR has the right to decide for itself. The Italian and Flemish delegations (a total of 27 MPs) will vote for, the other ECR delegations will vote against.
The new European Commission will not even receive the full support of the deputies from the Greens/European Free Alliance faction. Its co-chairman Bas Eickhout specified on Tuesday that “a small majority” of the 53 MEPs of this group will vote for it, some will vote against or abstain from voting. The other factions – Patriots for Europe (PfE), Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) and the Left Bloc are expected to vote against.
