Earlier, political sources reported that the cabinet will make a decision on Friday. Like Timmermans, Hoekstra will be assigned the climate portfolio.
He will not be the first replacement for chairman Ursula von der Leyen, as Timmermans was. The Slovak Maros Šefčovič of the European Commission is now second in rank.
The Dutch government nominates a new European Commissioner. Among others, the names of Timmermans’ right-hand man Diederik Samsom and outgoing ministers Sigrid Kaag and Kajsa Ollongren were mentioned. On Monday, caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that the cabinet would ‘really take some time’ to find a good successor.
“I consulted widely with all squadrons within the cabinet and with the European Commission president,” said Rutte last night. “In doing so, I have come to the conclusion that I will nominate Wopke Hoekstra as Commissioner-designate for the European Commission.”
It is now up to the European Commission to approve the nomination. In addition, there will be a hearing at the European Parliament.
‘Hoekstra had been working on it for some time’
“Hoekstra himself had been working on this for some time. A few weeks ago he already sounded people in Brussels about his candidacy. But there were more candidates, such as Timmermans’ chief of cabinet Diederik Samsom (PvdA) or Minister of Finance Sigrid Kaag of D66. In another PvdA member, the government parties were not hungry. According to sources, things have been going on between D66 and the CDA in recent days. Kaag did not necessarily want to. Also, the portfolio of the European Commissioner was no longer as large as under Timmermans. The preference was also said to have from Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, to Hoekstra. Like Hoekstra, she is a Christian Democrat,” says political reporter Fons Lambie.
“The most important task for Hoekstra is to lead the European climate delegation in the run-up to the climate summit at the end of this year. In principle, it is a temporary job, because the European elections will be held next June, after which a new European Commission will be formed. And Hoekstra can Don’t count on a new cabinet opting for the CDA member again.”
Carpenter
Frans Timmermans resigned as European Commissioner to become party leader of PvdA and GroenLinks. As a European Commissioner, he committed himself to implementing more robust climate plans, the Green Deal. Most of these have now been adopted or introduced.
Timmermans has been a member of the committee since 2014 and became a pillar of support for the then chairman Jean-Claude Juncker. In 2019, he missed out on the committee chairmanship. He did, however, become Von der Leyen’s second man and was given a key role as guardian of climate policy.
2023-08-24 22:18:00
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