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Von der Leyen reveals EU’s new top lineup 

Published : Wednesday, 18 September, 2024 at 12:00 AM  Count : 119
STRASBOURG, Sept 17: After weeks of fierce political horse-trading, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen unveiled Tuesday her new top team to help steward the EU through the next five years of global uncertainty.

Faced with Russia's war in Ukraine, the potential return of Donald Trump as US president and competition from China, the formation of the new commission comes at a crucial moment.

To confront the challenges, von der Leyen handed powerful economic portfolios to France, Spain and Italy -- putting a hard-right candidate from Rome in a top role.

"It's about strengthening our tech sovereignty, our security and our democracy," the commission chief said as she announced the team at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

French candidate Stephane Sejourne was handed an executive vice president role overseeing industrial strategy, after von der Leyen ousted Paris's first nominee.

Spain's candidate Teresa Ribera, a socialist climate campaigner, was also made an executive vice president, tasked with overseeing the bloc's economic transition toward carbon neutrality.

As Russia's war against Ukraine grinds on through a third year, security and defence roles assumed a new prominence.

Former Lithuanian prime minister Andrius Kubilius was handed a new defence role overseeing the EU's push to rearm, making him one of several hawkish Russia critics in eastern Europe to receive a prominent role.

Those include Estonia's ex-premier Kaja Kallas, already chosen by EU leaders as the bloc's foreign policy chief. Finland, another country neighbouring Russia, also saw its pick Henna Virkkunen given a weighty umbrella role including security and tech. 

As part of the bloc's careful balancing act, the German head of the EU executive had to choose the lineup for her second term from nominees put forward by the other 26 member states.

That has meant treading a political tightrope between the demands of competing national leaders -- and putting some noses out of joint.

The highest-profile casualty was France's first-choice candidate Thierry Breton, who quit suddenly as internal market commissioner on Monday accusing von der Leyen of pushing Paris to ditch him. 

Von der Leyen also fell short in her efforts to get a gender-balanced administration, ending up with 40 percent women after pressuring member states to put forward female nominees.

The choice of who gets which job is an indication of where Brussels wants to steer the European Union -- and the weight commanded by the member states and political groupings after the EU Parliament elections in June.   

Among the six powerful commission vice presidents is Italy's Raffaele Fitto, handed a cohesion brief in a nod to gains made by far-right parties in the June elections. 

The prospect of giving a top role to a member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's post-fascist Brothers of Italy party has raised hackles among centrist and leftist groups. 

Meloni said his appointment as a vice president "confirms the newfound central role of our nation in the EU".

After losses by Green parties at the June ballot, defending the environment had skidded down the list of priorities in Brussels, and how the various aspects of green policy were split between commissioners was a subject of particular scrutiny.    —AFP


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