Deal struck to approve senior EU commissioners

A deal has been struck between the main political groups in the European Parliament to approve the nomination of several senior EU commissioners, after several days of rising tensions.
The approval of the commissioners by MEPs had been held up for more than a week, due to a stand-off between the two largest groups in the parliament, the centre right European People’s Party (EPP) and the centre left Socialists and Democrats (S&D).
The two groups traditionally make up the effective working majority in the parliament, alongside the smaller, centrist grouping Renew.
However, a recent shift by the EPP to side with more extreme populist and far right parties on some votes has seen relations between the three centre groupings fray.
The tensions came to a head this month as MEPs were voting to approve new EU commissioners nominated by each country. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is aiming for the new commission, which is the executive arm of the EU, to be up and running by the start of next month.
MEPs approved 19 of the 26 commissioner-designates after parliamentary hearings earlier this month. However, the S&D and the Green groupings pushed back on the approval of Raffaele Fitto, the commissioner-designate from Italy set to be in charge of regional funding.
A member of Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s hard right Brothers of Italy party, left-wing MEPs bristled at Mr Fitto being made one of the six “executive vice-presidents” in the next commission team.
The EPP, which includes Fine Gael, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), and Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition in Poland, backed Mr Fitto in the row.
At the same time the EPP withheld support for Teresa Ribera, an S&D politician in line for a powerful role as commissioner in charge of the green transition and competition policy.
Ms Ribera, the current minister for environmental transition in Spain, has come under pressure over the devastating floods that hit Valencia in recent weeks.
[ Spain: Tens of thousands protest in Valencia over handling of fatal flooding by authoritiesOpens in new window ]
The right-wing Popular Party, who are the main opposition in Spain but in charge of the regional authority in Valencia, pushed the EPP to take a hard line in an effort to shift blame on to Ms Ribera.
The stand-off saw MEPs delay a vote to approve Mr Fitto, Ms Ribera, the four other commission “executive vice-presidents”, as well as the Hungarian commissioner nominee, Olivér Várhelyi.
In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, the EPP reiterated their position that Ms Ribera “should be prepared to resign” if found at fault by the Spanish courts over the management of the floods.
The S&D group previously accused the EPP of breaking the “political agreement of the pro-European democratic forces” in the parliament, by seeking to “scapegoat” Ms Ribera for the Popular Party’s failures to manage the floods in Valencia.
The centre left grouping has also criticised the EPP for siding with populist hard right and far right groups in the parliament in recent votes.
In a deal thrashed out over several days, the three main political groupings agreed to approve the nominations of Ms Ribera and Mr Fitto.
The agreement saw MEPs also sign off on Stéphane Séjourné as commissioner for industrial policy, Kaja Kallas as the EU’s next foreign affairs chief, Henna Virkkunen as commissioner for technology, Roxana Mînzatu as commissioner for skills and Mr Várhelyi as health commissioner.
Dr von der Leyen’s entire commission team as a whole must now clear a vote in the European Parliament, which is expected to take place on Wednesday next week.