Brussels, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 13th Nov, 2024) Political tensions within the European Parliament bubbled up on Tuesday, causing lawmakers to push back a vote on confirming top members of the EU’s new executive team.
The European Union’s designated foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, made her pitch calling for the 27-member union to pull its weight with a united front on the global stage.
“The world is on fire, so we have to stick together,” the 47-year-old former Estonian prime minister told her confirmation hearing, adding that the bloc needed to toughen its stance on China over its support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Her approval for the post is in little doubt since she was tapped directly by EU leaders in June.
But lawmakers who have to greenlight it have postponed a decision, bundling her together with other more controversial nominees.
Kallas was among six vice-presidents chosen to lead EU chief Ursula von der Leyen’s new European Commission who faced parliamentary scrutiny in Brussels on Tuesday before starting in their post.
Kallas was first up, along with Italy’s Raffaele Fitto, of Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right Brothers of Italy party, one of the most divisive Names.
France’s Stephane Sejourne, Spain’s Teresa Ribera, Romania’s Roxana Minzatu and Finland’s Henna Virkkunen also faced questions from parliamentarians.
Lawmakers on the centre and left are unhappy that Fitto was handed a vice presidency with the cohesion and reforms brief despite his hard-right affiliation.
“I want to be clear, I am not here to represent a political party. I am not here to represent a member state. I am here today to affirm my commitment to Europe,” Fitto said.
During an at times tense three-hour questioning, the 55-year-old declined to delve into his politics besides stressing his Christian democratic past, and repeatedly said he was open to dialogue and cooperation.
But many were not persuaded.
“Fitto fails fitness test,” headlined a statement from the Greens group, with lawmaker Bas Eickhout further accusing the Italian of not having “the best interest of the European Union and its citizens at heart”.
– ‘Accelerate or fall behind’ –
Some see Fitto’s high-profile role, which von der Leyen has said reflected Rome’s importance within the bloc, as a betrayal of a deal that got her re-elected in July.
Meloni’s European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), which espouses a brand of politics disliked by progressive EU parliamentarians, did not support the German politician’s bid for a second term.
Opponents argue it should thus be excluded from the inner sanctum of the new leadership, with Fitto stripped of the vice-presidency.
The Italian has the backing of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the largest group in parliament. But that’s not enough as approval requires a two-thirds majority.
“Our proposal is to do a coordinated evaluation of the VPs on Wednesday,” said Pascal Canfin of the centrist Renew, adding the group’s vote on Fitto depended “on the final agreement”.
A decision on Minzatu, 44, who is to oversee the people, skills and preparedness portfolio, was also delayed.
A postponement was also expected for Virkkunen, 52, Ribera and Sejourne, 39, who is to take charge of industrial strategy.
“Europe must accelerate or it will fall behind,” Sejourne, France’s centrist ex-foreign minister told parliament.
A close ally of Spain’s socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Ribera was given what is arguably the commission’s most influential role, as competition chief with responsibility over a vast environmental portfolio.
But her hearing was for large parts turned into a domestic politics tussle, the 55-year-old having to fend off a barrage of right-wing attacks on her government’s response to the devastating floods that hit the Valencia region.
“The industrial race to reach climate neutrality is already ongoing, and the speed of change is accelerating. The rest of the world is not going to wait for us,” she told lawmakers.
“If our economy depends on fossil fuels that we do not produce, we will never be able to ensure prosperity.”
Each EU state has nominated one member to serve on the commission. Von der Leyen allocated portfolios based on personal experience as well as political and national clout.
The hearings offer the European Parliament a rare chance to flex its muscles against the bloc’s powerful executive — and at least one candidate has been canned during the five-yearly exercise since 2004.
All but one of the 20 questioned last week have been given the green light, with the exception of Hungary’s Oliver Varhelyi, whose fate is yet to be decided.
The team is to start a five-year term in early December.
