The new European Commission could not be assembled and presented to the public by Wednesday, as previously announced, with President Ursula von der Leyen forced to postpone the presentation of the EU executive’s new composition until Sept. 17.
The delayed parliamentary confirmation of a Slovenian candidate was cited as a pretext in Brussels. “I think the Commission is using the Slovenian parliamentary procedure to buy another week to fine-tune the allocation of posts,” said a European Parliament official quoted by Politico.
The excuse for the delay is that Slovenia has not yet made a final decision on its candidate. Following the withdrawal of Tomaz Vesel, the Slovenian Parliament must now confirm the sending of former diplomat and presidential candidate Marta Kos to Brussels.
Kos was forced to resign as ambassador to Switzerland in 2020 after an investigation into alleged mistreatment of embassy staff.
The liberal politician’s candidacy was attacked by several Slovenian publications, which pointed out that Marta Kos lives in Switzerland, a non-EU country, and that she collaborated with the communist regime’s secret services.
Of course, it is not because of this act of protocol that von der Leyen’s plan failed, as she had previously set Sept. 11 as the date for the presentation of the new Commission.
The Financial Times reports that by Sept. 10, the controversy over one of the candidates had escalated to such an extent, and the row in the European Parliament had reached such a level, that von der Leyen was forced to postpone the announcement of the list.
The Socialists, who form the second largest group in the European Parliament, said that without changes it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to get the current names approved in a parliamentary vote. The left is particularly worried by reports that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s nominee Raffaele Fitto will become vice-president of the next European Commission.
The Socialists, who will only have four commissioners after recent poor national election results, fear that the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) will overshadow their chosen candidates, the Financial Times reported.
The Greens and the liberal Renew group, which voted to give the European Commission president the job, also publicly condemned Fitto’s planned role, expressing concern that a conservative candidate could be in charge of the economy and the European recovery plan in the new commission.
