The spokeswoman of the Popular Party in the European Parliament, Dolors Montserratsaid this Sunday that “there is no possibility” of the PP supporting the the new European Commission if the third vice-president of the Government, Teresa Riberais part of the cabinet chosen by the President of the Republic of Chile Ursula von der Leyen for a second term.
“There is no possibility that the Popular Party will support a community government. in which Teresa Ribera is present after everything that has happened in these two weeks” after the floods in SpainMontserrat said in a video message on social networks.
The popular leader raised two options to unblock the situation: that the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, propose “another candidate for commissioner”. or else the PP will ask that “its suitability be submitted to a secret ballot by the members of the parliamentary committees examining Teresa Ribera in the European Parliament”.
“We will see if the MEPs want to sponsor with their vote a vice-president who has an problem of management and public responsibility in which 220 Europeans have lost their lives in the Valencian Community and in Castilla-La Mancha“said Montserrat.
The president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóoalready asked this Thursday in the Congress of Deputies that the Government withdrew the candidacy of the third vice-president and minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, for the position of first vice-president of the European Commission, and to propose “another person who has the support of the Spanish society”.
The PP attributes to Ribera the responsibility of the DANA
The PP attributes to Ribera the responsibility for the DANA tragedy in Valencia and demands a new candidate from the Government, although the European People’s Party is not yet ready to ask for another name. and for the moment they have two conditions. On the one hand, that Ribera goes to Congress to give explanations -something that is expected next week- and on the other hand, that she commits to resign if she is brought to trial for her management of the DANA.
Ribera, appointed as vice-president of the European Commission for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, defended last Tuesday her work in the management of the DANA during an angry parliamentary hearing in the European Parliament. marked by the previous maneuvers of the PP to convince the European People’s Party (EPP) to reject the Spanish candidate.
Cross vetoes in the European Parliament
The PP pulse, backed by its European People’s Party group in the European Parliament, has blocked the necessary green light to the six new vice-presidents of the European Commission and the Hungarian commissioner-designate, a hijacked decision by crossed vetoes from the Popular Party to Ribera, on the one hand, and from the Socialists to the Italian vice-president, Raffaelle Fitto, and the Hungarian commissioner, Olivér Várhelyi, on the other.
This unprecedented situation endangers the coalition of political families. that has sustained the European Union The European Union is facing one of the most delicate weeks in its history due to the disagreement between the Popular Party and the Social Democrats.
What will happen in the next five days in Brussels will be key in determining whether the European Parliament can hold the vote of consent on Wednesday 27th of the new Executive as a whole so that it can start its mandate on December 1 and, from a broader perspective, for the survival of the coalition.