Commissioner candidate Virkkunen fell victim to a political game

Former candidate for Finnish commissioner Henna Virkkunen (EPP/kok.) Tuesday evening’s hearing, the Finnish MEPs were sure that Virkkunen, who knows how to do things, will get through the parliamentary hearing well or at least reasonably well.

We were also sure of Virkkunen’s acceptance as a commissioner. For example, RKP’s euro representative Anna-Maja Henriksson said that only Virkkunen’s refusal of the position of commissioner can be an obstacle to his election.

However, there was a warning in advance that Virkkunen might fall victim to a political game, as it became clear as the evening progressed.

The US challenge

Virkkunen’s future commissioner portfolio includes technology, digital and artificial intelligence. In addition, as Vice-President of the Commission, he coordinates security issues, competitiveness and rule of law issues.

After Virkkunen’s hearing, many MEPs and EU officials praised his performance, although there was some criticism for being cautious and relying on papers.

Virkkunen had studied his homework well, and balanced his answers carefully. Especially in those questions where it was asked how he, as a commissioner, would put the American digital giants, who oppose EU regulation, to the fore.

For example, the next president-elect of the United States Donald Trump vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance has threatened that the US may end its support for NATO if the EU tries to regulate a member of Trump’s inner circle Elon Musk’s X-some platform.

Virkkusen’s answers can be summarized as saying that all operators – including Elon Musk – must comply with EU laws.

The commissioner-designate said that he is ready to continue the current line, where techno companies can, if necessary, be obliged to comply with EU rules under the threat of huge fines.

“For US companies, Europe is a big business location, and sometimes the Commission also has to use formal procedures if dialogue is not enough,” Virkkunen formulated.

He emphasized several times that the United States is Europe’s most important trade and strategic partner, even though the views on technology regulation do not always agree.

Virkkunen also emphasized freedom of speech, although in the same breath he emphasized that online platforms are responsible for their content and hate messages should not be allowed.

Virkkunen’s message to Chinese online stores, such as Temu, was that illegal products and unethical marketing methods will not be allowed in the EU during his shift.

In order to cut through the EU bureaucracy, Virkkunen said that on his first day of work he would request a list of all reporting obligations of European companies.

“Then we start cutting the administrative burden on companies,” Virkkunen said.

The most peculiar question in the parliamentary hearing was asked by a member of the far-right ESN group Arno Bausemerwho asked Virkkus that “do you consider yourself a quota woman?”.

Virkkunen replied that the parliament will assess whether he is qualified for his future job.

“If I’m elected, I will also defend the careers of all women and girls,” Virkkunen said and received spontaneous applause from the audience.

A balance of horror

Although Virkkunen survived the hearing well, his fate is now tied to the contentious power play of the political groups in the parliament.

At the heart of the game is especially the Spanish socialist candidate Teresa Ribeira (S&D), which would be responsible for the EU’s clean industry program and the duties of the competition commissioner.

The right-wing MPs attacked Ribeira in Tuesday night’s hearings with extraordinary ferocity. He was grilled about the floods in Spain, among other things. In the background, Spain’s internal politics and the upcoming elections weigh heavily.

The center-right EPP group wants to postpone Ribeira’s election beyond next week or even longer, so that the socialist ministerial candidate would have to answer before the Spanish Parliament for the country’s catastrophic flooding situation.

The right-wing Ribeira attack has angered the Democrats’ S&D group. The dispute between the groups is said to be “extraordinarily fierce”.

The EPP is threatened by the fact that if Ribeira’s appointment does not proceed, then the other commissioner appointments will also be stuck.

Ribeira is held hostage by the right, also so that the MEPs of the left, greens and liberals do not reject the far-right Italian commissioner candidate Raffaele Fittoa (ECR).

Fitto is represented by the Prime Minister of Italy Georgia Melon Brothers of Italy party.

The left wing of the Parliament opposes Fitto’s appointment as vice-president of the Commission. S&D has threatened to drop the entire nomination package because of Fitto.

The left group and the greens also do not accept Fitto’s appointment.

Along with far-rightism, the suspicion of corruption found in Fitto’s history weighs heavily in the background.

Fitto was suspected of taking a bribe in 2004, when he worked in the local administration of Apulia. Fitto was convicted in a lower court, but the higher court overturned the sentence.

The Italian commissioner is a candidate for the commissioner responsible for cohesion policy, in which case he would be responsible for EU regional development funds of over 300 billion euros.

However, Fitto can be accepted only with the votes of the right.

If this is done, and the EPP rejects the pro-European coalition (S&D, Renew and the Greens), it would be a “neutron bomb”, according to the Dems, whose consequences for future EU cooperation would be dire.

The parliament’s political game also includes the Hungarian commissioner, who was already in danger of being relegated last week Oliver Várhelyi. He is the prime minister of pro-Russian Hungary Victor Orbánin commissioner candidate.

Last week, Várhelyi was made to give additional explanations to the parliament, and some MEPs would like to lighten the Hungarian commissioner’s portfolio.

A solution awaits

The parliamentary groups are supposed to discuss the selection of commissioner candidates on Wednesday. Then we will see if some of the commissioners are accepted, all the commissioners, or if the appointments are postponed until next week or in the future.

The general assessment is that Virkkunen will be accepted as commissioner, but the decision may drag on.

After the hearing, Kauppalehti asked Virkkus if he was nervous about being the target of the parliament’s political game.

The commissioner candidate assured that he was “in a calm state of mind”.

According to Virkkunen, power plays are part of politics, and in any case, the new commission is not supposed to be approved by the parliament’s plenary session until the end of November.

“I hope that these negotiations will lead to a good outcome and I would get confirmation for my own task, which is really important, but also that the commission would be able to start as early as possible,” said Virkkunen.

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