POLITICO’s 2024 Backhanded Awards There has never been a more deserving set of “winners.” By EDDY WAX Illustration by Ellie Foreman-Peck for POLITICO The Ursula von der Leyen Award for Not Being Charles Michel: António Costa Charles Michel has left office with a unique legacy: He’s the only European Council president to have quit twice. … Read more
There are two ways the remaining commissioners could pass. Either — as has been the case for most of the commissioners so far — the groups will need to secure a two-thirds majority in each of the committees that grilled the commissioners from Nov. 4-12. Or — if talks on a package deal go nowhere … Read more
Why stop at climate? Let’s toss in economic transformation and competition as well. It’s an approach the EU has never tried before, making Teresa Ribera a fascinating test case as she glides toward becoming one of the EU’s most powerful commissioners of all time. Given her climate-heavy background, Ribera was long expected to get a … Read more
The Socialists have signaled it is imperative to secure the safe passage of their clutch of commissioners, above all Spain’s pick, Teresa Ribera, who will be in charge of climate and competition policy. That makes it less likely that they will pick a fight with the center-right EPP, which has claimed the lion’s share of … Read more
“Rather than new legislative proposals, we can achieve our objectives by better implementing and enforcing existing legislation while using incentives and new market-based tools to promote change,” Hansen said in reply to a question on whether the EU’s executive would propose the framework next year. Costas Kadis Cyprus’ Costas Kadis, the commissioner candidate for fisheries … Read more
3. Von der Leyen crowns herself the winner on gender despite lack of balance Von der Leyen’s month-long struggle to get a gender-balanced European Commission did not lead to an equal number of men and women on her team, despite her pressure on countries to send one male and one female candidate from each country. … Read more
A senior EPP lawmaker noted how much success the Greens and The Left groups had in eliciting concessions from Hoekstra during his confirmation hearings last year. “They made him commit [to] the neutrality targets by threatening to vote him down,” the lawmaker said. “That is what you will see in hearings, from us, but other … Read more
The deadline for putting forward names for the next European Commission is the end of August. With that date approaching fast, and now that Ursula von der Leyen is back from her summer holiday in Germany, here are the nominees so far (remember that all of them, except for von der Leyen herself, need to … Read more
That’s compared to just five women (including von der Leyen herself) — or six if you include Spain’s expected pick Teresa Ribera, who is yet to be officially nominated. Two moves Thursday tipped the scales further, as Romania confirmed it would nominate Victor Negrescu, then Luxembourg put forward Christophe Hansen for the plum role. If Denmark and Italy … Read more
Who wants what? France and Italy are the biggest European powers eying a portfolio that includes one or more of the following: Competition, trade, industry and economic policy, several EU diplomats said, much to the despair of northern, more budget-disciplined EU governments. Ireland and Luxembourg are interested in a financial portfolio, while Spain wants an … Read more
