Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

This is the (finally) approved European Commission

  • Ursula von der Leyen's full team of commissioners

MEPs gave the green light to the whole new European Commission during the plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday (27 November), after president-elect Ursula von der Leyen presented her team and programme.

The commission was approved - with 461 votes in favour, 157 against and 89 abstentions. A total of 707 MEPs voted.

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The majority of MEPs from the Greens abstained in the vote, saying they would like the commission to be more ambitious on climate and social policies.

"Green headlines are just not enough. Without a deep reform of the agriculture policy and the trade agenda, any climate policy must remain half-hearted, and we just don't have the time for that," said the co-president of the Greens Ska Keller.

The leftist group GUE/NGL did not support von der Leyen's team either, because "the political orientation of the commission does not answer what the people and the planet need in terms of the environmental and social problem," the co-president of the political group, Manon Aubry, said on Tuesday.

The European Parliament approved the entire commission after the European Council adopted the list of commissioner-candidates on Monday - a requirement for the new commission to begin its five-years term on December 1.

The time for the commission to take office was postponed from 1 November to 1 December after MEPs previously rejected three commissioner-candidates - Hungarian László Trócsányi, Romanian Rovana Plumb and French Sylvie Goulard.

All three replacements were approved earlier this month, despite MEPs' concerns about the independence from Viktor Orban's government of new Hungarian candidate Oliver Varhelyi, the lack of expertise of new Romanian Adina-Ioana Valean and the possible conflict of interests of French businessman Thierry Breton.

The centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and centre-right European People's Party (EPP) dominate the field - more so than they did in the EU parliament election in May, although the EPP has ten commissioners and the socialists only nine.

The liberals have six commissioners, while both the Greens and the conservatives of ECR have one each.

The UK has not proposed a commissioner in von der Leyen's team, due to its Brexit departure scheduled for 31 January - unless another delay is agreed.

However, Britain's decision not to put forward a candidate, despite repeated requests from Brussels, prompted the commission to initiate infringement proceedings against the UK earlier this month.

The plenary vote ended the parliament's process of examination of the proposed team of commissioners, ensuring the democratic legitimacy of the EU's executive body.

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