"If you don't approve of mine, I won't approve of yours". That's roughly how it sounds between social democrats, liberals, conservatives, and the somewhat softer far-right in the EU Parliament.
The incoming Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has created a puzzle where all the major party groups have one of the six heavy posts as vice presidents. But if any of them don't get approved, the whole puzzle risks falling apart.
Roswall and Lahbib
The decision on the six last ones will therefore have to wait until everything is clear, at the earliest on Wednesday. This way, everyone is put in the same pot, making it harder to stop anyone for purely political reasons. The same method was already used last week when the conservative EPP took liberal crisis management commissioner Hadja Lahbib as a hostage and refused to approve her unless liberal RE and social democratic S&D simultaneously said yes to Swedish Jessika Roswall (M) as environmental commissioner.
Several of Tuesday's commissioners risk being rejected due to political opposition from other parties. The Spanish right, for example, is likely to heavily criticize social democratic Spaniard Teresa Ribera as climate and competition commissioner, while social democrats, liberals, and greens are critical of Italian Raphaele Fitto getting a vice presidential post at all.
Hungary waits
All 20 other commissioners who have been heard have already been approved, except for Hungarian Olivér Várhelyi, whose proposed role as health commissioner will also be decided only when all hearings are complete.
Várhelyi, who has already been a commissioner since 2019, has been criticized for his close ties to Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, but also for calling EU Parliament members "idiots".
Here are the six people proposed to become vice presidents in the next EU Commission:
Kaja Kallas, Estonia (from liberal party group RE): foreign affairs chief
Raphaele Fitto, Italy (from EU-skeptical conservative ECR): regional affairs
Roxana Minzatu, Romania (from social democratic S&D): labor market commissioner
Henna Virkkunen, Finland (from conservative EPP): digital issues
Stéphane Séjourné, France (RE): industry
Teresa Ribera, Spain (S&D): transformation and competitiveness
Once all hearings are completed, a final formal vote in the EU Parliament awaits, likely on November 27. If so, the new Commission can take office from December 1.
