Commissioners elected MEPs, undecided on future
All seven Commissioners who took part in the European Parlaiment elections on May 22-25 have won MEP seats, but four of them are undecided if they will take them or stay on as Commissioners, in order to maximise their chances for a better future outside the European Parliament.
Vice-President Viviane Reding, the Luxembourg commissioner for Justice and Fundamental rights has successfully led the list of her EPP-affiliated Christian’s Social People’s Party.
Vice-President Antonio Tajani, the Italian commissioner for Industry, was elected on the list of Berlusconi’s EPPaffiliated People of Freedom Party.
Vice President Maros Sefcovic, the Slovak commissioner for Administration, was elected for the PES-affilated SMERSocial Democracy party.
Vice-President Olli Rehn, the Finnish commissioner for economic and monetary affairs and the euro, has been elected by his liberal-affiliated Centre party.
Polish Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski, responsible for the budget, was elected MEP from the list of the EPPaffiliated Civic Platform of Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Croatian commissioner Neven Mimica, responsible for consumer protection, was elected MEP from the PESaffiliated Social Democratic Party.
Belgium’s Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht was last on the list of the liberal Open-VLD party of Guy Verhofstadt, without the intention of being elected. But due to the preferential system and to his popularity, he was promoted to number three, and was elected too.
Among the seven, Sefcovic is the only one who is also officially the candidate of his country to be Commissioner again. This means that he would have to relinquish his MEP seat to the profit of the next unelected candidate on his list.
Mimica is also expected to stay as Commissioner. He did not perform well in the election, as he obtained very few votes. But since he was first on the list, he won the seat. Mimica will be back in the Commission, counting on a fulltime mandate this time, as he joined the EU executive only after his country joined the EU on July 1, 2013.
Tajani is the only one who has already confirmed that he will take his MEP seat. According to his spokesperson Carlo Corazza, Tajani earned more than 100,000 personal votes in the Italian electoral college of Lazio, Toscana, Umbria and Marche (central Italy).
But for the others, the future is less clear and they need to inform President Jose Manuel Barroso of their intentions to leave the EU executive before the end of June.
As she has said in interviews, Reding would like to stay on in the Commission. But she also supports the ambition of her compatriot, party fellow and former Prime Minister of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker, to become President of the European Commission. There can be only one Luxembourg national in the Commission. So it is widely assumed that Reding will make her plans known after Juncker’s political future is decided, probably in June.
The most intriguing case may involve Rehn. The Finnish politician currently holds the second most i mportant position in the Commission and has big ambitions for his future.
Together with his Belgian liberal rival Guy Verhofstadt, Rehn was candidate to be the ALDE candidate for Commission President. But last January, Rehn ceded the race for Commission President to Verhofstadt, with the understanding that in return, he will receive support to run for one of the other senior EU posts in economic or foreign affairs and is unlikely to be satisfied with an MEP seat.