The new European Commission moves from technocracy to politics

The new European Commission will reach a critical stage after Ursula von der Leyen’s proposal to create a second team of commissioners. This process is essential in consolidating European policies in the coming years.

On September 17, the president proposed a new list of candidates to become European commissioners. At this time, as it did with the previous College of Commissioners in 2019, it added a list of powers and tasks.

We find ourselves with the result of the proposal for commissioners and portfolios with the Member States. Now it’s time for an approval process by the European Parliament, first approval from each parliamentary committee of the candidates according to their portfolio, and then approval from the entire college with the assembly in full session.

Who is it and what is expected of the new commissioners

The president, in this case, already has some problems before she starts that she is trying to solve: Thierry Breton resignsFrench and the Commissioner of the Internal Market and Services in the previous period, who has been knocking on the door and criticizing the all-powerful actions of the president, and the Hindi representativeOlivér Várhelyi, a repeat candidate who has openly criticized the European Parliament in recent months.

This new college of commissioners, Vor der Leyen IIin some ways similar to the previous one: established a model of executive vice president and from the beginning he carefully establishes the designated areas and activities.

He has made a territorial and ideological distribution that allows him not to have too many problems in a parliamentary agreement. To do this, he is counting on a French liberal, Stéphane Séjourné, thus compensating President Macron for the British anger; Italian representative from the Meloni Government, Rafaelle Fito; Finn from the European Popular Party, Henna Virkkunen, and two socialists, Romanian Roxana Mînzatu, and another Spaniard, Teresa Ribera.

This new commission aims to address the evolution of the institution, which has gone from uncertain to increasingly political. This is already coming from the Jean Claude Juncker era and followed by Ursula von der Leyen, who had opposed the Brexit negotiationscovid-19 health crisis management and the war over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

To do this, it reinforces political communication and presence at key moments in strategic locations. First, by establishing a program approved by the European Parliament by supporting his bid for the presidency in July with a strategy to “Deepen and facilitate business development in the internal market”reduce the price of energy and put research and innovation at the heart of the economy.

Secondly, it requires the commissioners to have two documents, among others, commissioned at the same time by the European Council and the Commission to Enrico Letta already Mario Draghitwo Italians with a specific vision of Europe: more economically competitive, supporting companies so they can grow and become global giants, concern about the regulatory obstacles that prevent this growth and the desire to -independence technique in security and desire to deepen. defense and economy.

Where is Spain?

Spain has a vice-president in the European Commission again. As one of the six most important countries in the European economy and one of the few governed by the Socialist Party, it fits almost naturally. The package for which the Minister for Ecological Movement, Teresa Ribera, is running, is the Internal Market. It is one of the most traditionally relevant because it corresponds to one of the main policies of the European Union, even more taking into account the objective of economic growth based on the development of internal competitiveness in order to be competitive outside.

For the most likely commissioner in the future, the duties that the president has established could be rather complicated to fulfill, more for ideological reasons and work practices than for other reasons. They have asked him to reduce legislative barriers, support the industry and help reduce energy costs to be more competitive, something that only happens with renewable energy.

Spain must start also coming together on policieswhich has not been achieved for a long time. He has been willing to engage in political dialogue, but not into policies.

An exciting time is beginning which we hope will once again place Europe as an economic leader in the international arena.

This article was originally published in The Conversationa non-profit news site dedicated to sharing the opinions of academic experts.

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Carmen Isolina Egea Gutiérrez – Cortines does not receive a salary, nor does she do consulting work, nor does she have shares, nor does she receive funding from any company or organization that may benefit from this article, and she has said no. relevant connections outside the academic setting mentioned.