Harris faces first hurdle over EU job
SIMON Harris’s must negotiate his first hurdle as Fine Gael leader as he is set to meet EU Commissioner Mairéad McGuinness to discuss the end of her term, with Fianna Fáil insisting the job is then theirs.
Fianna Fáil are due to replace her as Commissioner for Financial Markets with their own nominee this year, but Ms McGuinness has indicated she wants to stay on.
Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Commission’s first female chief, is also seeking a second term at the helm after the European Parliament election in June. She will then put together a new cabinet. She has previously asked for each of the 27 member states to put forward a male and female nominee to achieve gender balance on her College of Commissioners.
While the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said there is ‘no written agreement’ on which party the next commissioner will come from, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said it will be from Fianna Fáil. However, he has denied speculation that he will be the party’s candidate.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1 yesterday, Ms McGuinness said that she would like to serve another term. When asked about Mr Martin’s assertion that the next nominee would be from his party, she said: ‘With full respect to that, this is a Government decision.’
She added: ‘When I speak to Simon Harris, I’m sure we will talk about many things, and maybe this as well, but he is part of a government and that government has to make big decisions, including about who will be the next Irish commissioner is an important job.’
Ms McGuinness said she had ‘given up even worrying’ about the change-over, and she expects to be in her position up to October or November. However, she said she had ‘no sense of entitlement or expectation’ in relation to the role.
The commissioner said she has an ‘extremely good relationship’ with the Tánaiste. ‘I have no issue with his view if that is as he has expressed it. But let’s see how things evolve, because one never knows in all of the uncertainties what will happen and I don’t spend my days worrying about that,’ she added.
Ms McGuinness was assigned the role after Mr Varadkar forced Phil Hogan to resign as Trade Commissioner in 2020 in the wake of his attendance at the Oireachtas Golf Society dinner during the Covid-19 pandemic.