Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

Six commissioners head for EU election campaign trail

  • Seven of the EU's twenty eight commissioners are standing in May's European Parliament elections (Photo: European Parliament)

Six EU commissioners will officially hit the campaign trail later this month as part of their candidacies for May's European elections.

Economic affairs chief Olli Rehn, justice commissioner Viviane Reding, industry boss Antonio Tajani, administration commissioner Maros Sefcovic, EU budget chief Janusz Lewandowski, consumer protection commissioner Neven Mimica are all standing for the EU assembly.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

In a statement on Wednesday (2 April), European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso granted electoral leave to the Commissioners between 19 April and 25 May, with the exception of Rehn whose electoral leave will start next week on 7 April.

Under the rules of the EU executive's Code of Conduct the leave period is unpaid and during that period the commissioners are forbidden from using the commission's resources. All commissioners on electoral leave will return to work on 26 May, the day after the votes of Europeans are counted.

Of the seven commissioners hoping to win over voters, Finnish economic affairs official Olli Rehn, who has been the commission's point-man throughout the eurozone crisis, is the most well known. Despite being defeated by Belgian Guy Verhofstadt as the pan-EU Liberal party's candidate for commission president, Rehn is widely expected to win a seat running on the ticket of Finland's liberal centre party.

In the meantime, Estonian transport commissioner Siim Kallas will take over Rehn's responsibilities.

Elsewhere, In a reshuffle of portfolios, Sefcovic will have his duties taken over by Barroso.

Meanwhile, Reding's portfolio will be taken over by Johannes Hahn, the Austrian commissioner for regional policy, while internal market chief Michel Barnier will take over Tajani's post.

Latvian development commissioner Andris Piebalgs will take responsibility for Lewandowski's role, and Hungary's Laszlo Andor will add Mimica's consumer portfolio to his employment brief.

All the candidates have been placed at the top of their party's election list and are almost certain to be elected in May.

Meanwhile, trade commissioner Karel De Gucht will also try to get an MEP post. But he is just the 12th and last candidate for the Verhofstadt-led Flemish liberal party in Belgium and will not actively campaign, leaving him free to continue his EU duties.

If elected, those who decide to take up their seat in the 751-member Parliament will be expected to resign from the commission by the end of June.

But some argue that commissioners elected as MEPs should immediately stand down from the EU executive to avoid any conflicts of interest.

Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access

70 percent of northern Gaza is facing famine, new data shows. There is one shower per 5,500 people, and 888 people per toilet. 'How can you live in these conditions?" asked Natalie Boucly of UNRWA at the European Humanitarian Forum.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Latest News

  1. Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access
  2. Europol: Israel-Gaza galvanising Jihadist recruitment in Europe
  3. EU to agree Israeli-settler blacklist, Borrell says
  4. EU ministers keen to use Russian profits for Ukraine ammo
  5. Call to change EIB defence spending rules hits scepticism
  6. Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers
  7. EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK
  8. The present and future dystopia of political micro-targeting ads

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us