Rift in the majority in the European Parliament: the Greens vote along with the radical right and left (but go under)

Brussels -Not even a month went by since the European Parliament formally resumed its work after the summer recess, and there has already been the first clash between the political forces that supported Ursula von der Leyen’s re-election to the head of the Commission. The environmentalists, who were instrumental in securing a second term for the popular German, were excluded from the distribution of some of the positions in the hemicycle that they allegedly had been promised by the majority (of which they are not formally part). In protest, they joined forces with the ultra-right and the radical left to try –unsuccessfully — to obstruct the appointments in question, causing quite a bit of attrition among the respective parliamentary groups.

In July, when the Greens (Greens/EFA) decided to endorse from the outside the reappointment of von der Leyen to the head of the Berlaymont building without formally entering the majority agreement signed by Populars (EPP), Socialists (S&D), and liberals (Renew), they probably should have imagined that such a choice could have backfired.

Instead, the cold shower came shortly after the start of the new legislature, when the three parliamentary groups that make up the centrist majority split among themselves some roles in the House, including the Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA) panel, an “implementation body” of the hemicycle that studies scientific-technical issues faced by lawmakers and brings together 27 members from 11 parliamentary committees, including the one on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) where the controversy unfolded. According to pre-established agreements with their pro-European partners, the environmentalists were supposed to receive a slice of the pie but were left high and dry. And they did not take it well.

Thus, on Monday (Sept. 30), the ITRE Committee voted on a motion, presented by the radical right-wing of the Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), to block the agreement the EPP, S&D, and Renew reached a couple of weeks earlier (Sept. 12) concerning the division of these posts. In retaliation against being left out of the game, the Greens MEPs voted together with the ECR, the far-right Patriots for Europe (PfE), the Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN), and the extreme left (Left).

Although the motion did not pass (the majority won with 48 votes to 32 and one abstention), the move by the Greens produced a political shakeup among the forces supposed to be allies in Strasbourg. From the Populars came immediate accusations about the formation of “ new, unprecedented alliances of the extreme fringes with the Greens,” from which “only Euroskeptic parties benefit.” These were the words of German Christian Ehler, who called the attitude of environmentalists “extremely surprising.”

The environmentalists wasted no time in responding: “This arrogance of power is remarkable,” said Michael Bloss, Ehler’s compatriot, adding that “anyone who now believes that the Greens are sitting at the cat’s table and are voting cattle has got it all wrong,” a colorful expression to emphasize that Christian Democrats cannot expect support from environmentalists without offering them anything in return. “Green votes are cast when the rules of procedure are observed and when we are involved in decisions, otherwise not,” he added.

It was hardly an exemplary demonstration of mutual trust among the partners in the enlarged majority governing the European Parliament. Yet trust will be crucial in the coming weeks as the parliamentary hearings of the commissioners-designate of the 27 member states come into full swing: in this stage, the political groups in the hemicycle’s various committees will have to decide which candidates to approve and which to reject, and from this challenging process, the outline of the new von der Leyen College will emerge.

For example, at least six commissioners-designates will have to pass through ITRE: Finland’s Henna Virkkunen (executive vice-president designate for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy), France’s Stéphane Séjourné (executive vice-president designate for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy), the Netherlands’ Wopke Hoekstra (commissioner designate for Climate Carbon Neutrality and Clean Growth), Lithuania’s Andrius Kubilius (commissioner-designate for Defense and Space), Denmark’s Dan Jørgensen (commissioner-designate for Energy and Housing), and Bulgaria’s Ekaterina Zaharieva (commissioner-designate for Startups, Research and Innovation).