Views: 10
In less than ten days, the candidates for the most vital jobs in the European Commission for the coming five years shall be chosen; the final steps will follow after the “grilling” process in the European Parliament before the candidates assume their new positions and acquire their offices.
Background
Such spheres as industrial policy and the EU budget portfolios are regarded as the most important positions in the Commission’s hierarchy, including those of regional development, financial regulation and national spending control. The “steely-eyed bouncer”, the Commission President Ursula von der Leyen makes the final decision, acknowledges Politico.
Main source and citations from: https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-commission-president-ursula-von-der-leyen-commissioner-hopeful/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=alert&utm_campaign=These%20people%20want%20to%20run%20the%20EU%E2%80%99s%20economy
The main task of the Commission is “to execute” and manage the EU-wide political economy; however, in managing more than €200 bn budget this main European executive institutions might have some changes, including the following ideas: a) the idea of Commission’s vice-president, which was the case under von der Leyen’s first term; b) for example, to merge the budget and cohesion portfolios, and eliminate many directorate-generals that were under the control of competition chief.
It seems that Von der Leyen is trying to avoid having people who do not control a department, an official said, adding that not controlling it means “you don’t have the means, the staff to actually do something meaningful.”
“The internal structure of the Commission needs to be reformed; it needs to keep up with the reality out there, and this was not the case so far”, the Commission’s official noted.
Future Commission’s positions
Managing powerful EU-wide political-economy would require “the steady hand and strong competitive instincts”; some prominent candidates have been mentioned by Politico.
= Economic affairs: Magnus Brunner, 52, finance minister in Vienna since December 2021 and from the same political family as von der Leyen. According to the recent Politico analysis, Brunner comes from the most westerly Austrian region, the country’s tail bordering highly business-dense Bavaria in Germany, and Switzerland. He’s from an entrepreneurial family. In an Austrian landscape marked by widespread embracing of the idea that state intervention should be limited, Brunner’s record as minister in times of inflation and energy crisis went in the opposite direction.
Another candidate for the economic position in the EU is Irish former finance minister Michael McGrath, 47; although it might be a difficult proposal for the country as Ireland has held the financial services portfolio in the outgoing commission, making a repeat a difficult sell. In Ireland, McGrath set up a sovereignty fund fueled by corporate taxes to tackle the current and future demographic and green transition challenges.
= Guiding competition: Slovenia’s liberal government has made it clear it wants an economic, financial, and competitiveness-related portfolio. Its nominee, Tomaž Vesel, 56, is the former president of the country’s court of auditors, an expert in public procurement and budget administration; he is coming “to correct the mess”. However, he didn’t leave his top-level civil servant job in Slovenia.
= Financial affairs: Raffaele Fitto, 54, was tasked by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to handle the huge amount of money the country received through Next Generation EU ― the bloc’s post-Covid recovery fund. Now he’d like to control European funds more broadly.
= Budget issues: Poland’s nominated commissioner, Piotr Serafin, 50, is a close ally of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and has been eyeing the budget portfolio, according to Polish media reports. Serafin is the classic Brussels insider, having been Tusk’s right-hand man for half a decade from 2014. Tusk was European Council president during a period when the bloc was confronted with unprecedented challenges: e.g. the culmination of the Greek debt crisis, a surge in migrants from Africa, the Middle East and Asia’s crises, as well as Brexit. Serafin could be Poland’s secret weapon if it wants to wield more power in Brussels. The budget role will be one of the most influential because it is about “real money”, i.e. the member states’ contributions to the EU budget, as well as the amounts the states would get from different EU’s supporting sources.
Another “budget’s candidate: Wopke Hoekstra (48 years of age); he was finance minister before becoming a commissioner last October when Franz Timmermans decided to run in the Dutch election. He had gained a nickname along the lines of “Mr. No” due to his habit of not listening to the member states and colleagues’ calls for new funds.
= Internal market: Jozef Síkela, 57; he is the Czech industry and trade minister, used to have long experience at the Erste Group Bank AG as a corporate and investment banker.
Other candidates
Politico also mentioned some other candidates:
= Maria Luís Albuquerque, a former Portuguese finance minister who handled the country’s bank crisis, is the second option for Lisbon.
= Denmark could send its industry minister, Morten Bødskov to substitute the outgoing present country’s competition Commissioner.
= Sweden’s Jessika Roswall pitched competitiveness in her presentation speech, and
= Belgium’s Didier Reynders may be keen on an economic brief.
= A lot of southern and eastern countries are looking at the cohesion (regional spending) post.
Besides, some long-serving commissioners are supposed to be re-elected: e.g. Latvian Valdis Dombrovskis, most recently serving as the EU-wide economy boss, along with Slovak Maroš Šefčovič; the latter this time would like “an economic portfolio, dealing with industry or competition or energy,” a government official said.
= Another prominent figure – Thierry Breton, the French commissioner, is also searching for a big promotion; i.e. even if his relationship with the Commission president has been difficult lately, Breton seems convinced he has gained the right to a top-level role.