Finnish commissioner candidate Henna Virkkunen (EPP/co.)’s acceptance as a commissioner is stuck for the time being, because his fate is tied to the contentious power play of the European Parliament’s political groups.
It’s about the fact that a political package was made in advance for the approval of the vice-presidents of the commission, which had to be approved as a whole. In fact, each political group cherishes its own nominations, and when one group’s candidate has faced a backlash, it has set off a chain reaction, the outcome of which no one knows.
The fault of the right
SDP:n meppi Eero Heinäluoma accuses that the largest group in the EU Parliament, the center-right EPP group, wants to overthrow the star candidate of the Dems, Teresa Ribeiranwho serves as the Minister of the Environment of the Socialist Government of Spain.
The overthrow of Ribeira is strongly linked to Spain’s domestic politics, where the right and the left are fighting over who is to blame for the mismanagement of Spain’s flood damage.
More than 220 people died in the floods in Spain, and in the local government of the worst region, Valencia, the responsibility is borne by a right-wing politician who has been accused of the loss of life because the flood warnings did not work well.
At national level, Spain has a socialist government in power, with Ribeira serving as environment minister.
According to the left and the greens, the Spanish right-wing party PP has allied itself with the right-wing of the EU Parliament and is plotting to blackmail and overthrow Ribera.
In Tuesday night’s hearings, the right-wing parties in the parliament violently attacked Ribeira and blamed him for the flood damage.
The greens’ meppi Maria Ohisalo considers it an “absolutely incomprehensible action” when the right-wing linked Ribeira’s hearing to Spain’s internal politics.
According to SDP’s Heinäluoma, the Democrats (S&D) in the parliament do not accept the attempt to overthrow Ribeira and the EPP’s slide into far-right cooperation.
“We draw a line here. Now the leadership of each EPP member party has to decide whether they accept this new far-right cooperation.”
According to Heinäluoma, the EPP has an alternative to return to pro-European (S&D, RE and Greens) cooperation, or to “go looking for new spouses” from the far and extreme right.
Heinäluoma says that EPP has been given Wednesday and Thursday to offer new solutions.
The position of the S&D group has also been told by the chairman of the commission Ursula von der Leyenille.
“If there are no solutions, I consider it possible that each commissioner will be voted on separately,” says Heinäluoma.
It would mean that the process of approving the commissioners would become longer and more difficult, and the start of the new commission could also be delayed.
According to Heinäluoma, the approval vote for the entire commission may also be at risk if the EPP closes its cooperation with the far-right and extreme right.
Finland’s interest
The EPP is plotting.
Heinäluoma and S&D accuse EPP chairman Manfred Weber of intensifying far-right cooperation. Stock photo.
KUVA: Inka Soveri
Representing basic Finns and the ECR group Sebastian Tynkkynen hopes for the Dems to have “a little sense of proportionality” and think about Finland’s interests.
According to Tynkkynen, Finland and Estonia are about to get significant seats in the new commission if Virkkus becomes vice-president of the commission and Estonia Kaja Kallaksesta EU foreign minister.
“Finland shouldn’t start frowning on Italy, because that could cause the whole appointment package to fall,” Tynkkynen says.
It is about the fact that the democrats (S&D) in the parliament are not going to accept that the commissioner candidate representing the Italian far-right Raffale Fitto (ECR) would get the position of Vice-President of the Commission. As a line commissioner, he could be suitable for the Democrats, but not for the commission’s management team.
The EU representative of the Fundamental Finns points out that the right-wing’s growth in power has the support of the voters. He wonders if Europe must have “forever some Sanna Marin policy to continue”.
“We can see from the election results that the right-wing has become stronger, it must be reflected in politics,” Tynkkynen says.
Reason wins
The leader of the coalition Pekka Toveri (EPP) hopes that “reason will prevail” in the political groups of the parliament and the appointment package will be completed.
According to Tover, EPP’s pro-European and pro-Ukraine basic line has not changed at all.
Also a member of the left-wing coalition Merja Kyllönen (GUE/NGL) hopes that an understanding between the groups will emerge.
“We won’t choose anyone, not Virkku, not Kalla, if we can’t find a solution,” says Kyllönen.
According to the leftist MEP, the EU should be united, especially now, when the world situation is challenging.
“The fact that this has become a power struggle is not in Europe’s interest,” says Kyllönen.
Although the commissioner appointments are delayed, Finnish MEPs still believe that Finland’s commissioner candidate, Henna Virkkunen, will be appointed to her position.