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The Greens in the European Parliament have decided to support the new EU Commission and thus vote yes in the vote on Wednesday.
This is stated by SF’s member of the European Parliament, Kira Marie Peter-Hansen.
“We are not married to this commission, but have chosen to support it because we have received significant concessions in the green and social area. And because we believe that Europe is best served by us staying at the table,” says Kira Marie Peter-Hansen.
The Greens have otherwise been critical, especially towards Italy’s and Hungary’s right-wing candidates for posts in the new EU Commission.
With the support of the Greens, the EU Commission looks set to receive a broad mandate from the European Parliament.
Before the election to the European Parliament, the Social Democrats in the S&D group, the liberals in the Renew group, and the Greens made a deal not to support Ursula von der Leyen if she normalized cooperation with the right-wing, including Italy’s Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, and her party, Brothers of Italy.
However, it ends up that all three groups in the parliament support the new EU commission, which will have Italy’s Raffaele Fitto from Giorgia Meloni’s party as one of the six Executive Vice Presidents in total.
Also the Renew group, where the Liberals, the Moderates, and the Radicals are members, has been highly critical of Fitto’s central post.
Nevertheless, the Renew group also votes for the new EU Commission. This is stated by the Renew leader, Valérie Hayer.
“We fought until the last moment to prevent Fitto from becoming an executive vice president, but we did not succeed. The decision is ultimately up to Ursula von der Leyen.”
“We do not agree that Fitto becomes executive vice president, and we will be critical of how he works within the EU Commission,” says Valérie Hayer.
Kira Marie Peter-Hansen believes the process around the appointment of the new EU Commission “has not been pretty.”
However, she emphasizes that it was possible to get political concessions from Ursula von der Leyen, which according to Kira Marie Peter-Hansen will steer the new EU Commission in a greener direction.
“We ensured that the commission stands guard over our climate law at a time when a blue majority wants to roll it back.”
“At the same time, we secured a 2040 climate target, and that we continue to make progress in the social and equality policy area,” says Kira Marie Peter-Hansen.