CEE countries aim for a hefty Commission portfolio after failing in top job race

February 18, 2020 / By mobanmarket

CEE countries aim for a hefty Commission portfolio after failing in top job race

The early signs of a Central European breakthrough aren’t promising.

Central and Eastern Europe was shut out in last week’s race for senior EU positions, so the region’s governments are eyeing important Commission portfolios and a vice presidency as compensation.

“The arrangement is that a candidate from CEE will get the position of the vice president. I have a deep understanding that it has been confirmed. I can’t see any other possibility,” said Piotr Müller, a Polish government spokesman.

But officials from other countries say that the European Council did not make any deals regarding a Central European vice president during the June 30 to July 2 summit, at which they nominated German Ursula von der Leyen as Commission president.

“There are many wish lists around but it’s up to the incoming Commission president to decide which candidate is best suited for which of the various positions available in her team of commissioners,” said one EU diplomat.

“Aside from the two highest vice presidents, the European Council did not make further arrangements on candidates or portfolios,” the diplomat said, referring to Frans Timmermans and Margrethe Vestager, who are set to take vice presidencies as a consolation for their failed runs to be Commission president.

The early signs of a CEE breakthrough in Brussels aren’t promising.

On Wednesday, former Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło, a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists, was humiliated in her bid to become chair of the European Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committee, losing in a 27 to 21 vote. A week earlier, Zdzisław Krasnodębski, also a member of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party, failed in his effort to become a Parliament deputy president.

The Poles claim they deserve to play an important role in the new Commission because of the size of the country.

“The fact that we haven’t got any top job now is a perfect argument for us to get a powerful portfolio,” said a senior Polish diplomat. He spelled out the “top jobs” that Warsaw would like: “For me, these are the following portfolios: competition, agriculture, energy, budget, trade. These are the real top jobs, this is where the power is.” He added that Poland would have “ambitions” to get a vice presidential seat at the Commission.

Naming names

Getting a good portfolio is the result of a complex mix of the new Commission president’s views, the qualifications of the candidate put forward by a member country and that country’s political heft in Brussels.

There are several names being mentioned in Warsaw: Adam Bielan, an MEP and a close aide of Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of Law and Justice and Poland’s de facto ruler; Jerzy Kwieciński, the investment and economic development minister and also a Kaczyński confidant; and Jadwiga Emilewicz, the entrepreneurship minister.

Slovakia also wants a “vice presidency with a strong portfolio,” one official said. Bratislava has an edge over countries like Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, all embroiled in fights with the EU, thanks to its newly elected pro-EU President Zuzana Čaputová. Slovakia also has a Commission candidate who is known quantity in Brussels — Maroš Šefčovič, the current vice president in charge of energy union.

Šefčovič is “already high ranking” and could thus get a vice presidency, said a senior EU diplomat.

Prague still hasn’t made up its mind, but could back current Commissioner Věra Jourová, a member of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš’s ANO party, who is well-respected in Brussels and who has expressed interest in staying for a second term.

But the country’s political turmoil amid corruption allegations swirling around Babiš means that the matter “has not been decided yet” when it comes to names, said a senior Czech official, adding there are a “couple of ideas flying around.”

“Everything is moving in the context of a looming political crisis,” said another Czech official.

Hungary — battling the EU over charges that it is backsliding on democracy — isn’t even trying for a vice presidential post. Budapest’s Commission candidate is outgoing Justice Minister László Trócsányi, who headed the candidate list of the ruling Fidesz party in the European Parliament election, although he is not a party member.

Trócsányi “wants the enlargement portfolio,” said one senior Fidesz official, while noting that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán hasn’t indicated a portfolio preference.

But Trócsányi said it is too early to publicly discuss his preferences. “I will discuss these in detail personally with the new Commission president, who hopefully will be Mrs. Ursula von der Leyen, once the Hungarian government has put my name forward as a Commissioner candidate,” he told POLITICO.

But getting nominated doesn’t mean a candidate will even join the Commission, let alone grab a portfolio. Trócsányi is likely to face a tough confirmation process in the European Parliament, which may be tempted to use the process to express disapproval of either Hungary or Poland over the issue of violating the EU’s legal standards.

Then there are limitations because of national policies. Despite its desire for the energy portfolio, Poland’s dependence on coal-fired power and its resistance to increasing the bloc’s targets to cut emissions would make a Polish candidate problematic for many other countries.

Hungary has similar issues over Orbán’s resistance to accepting asylum seekers.

“I wouldn’t give a Hungarian colleague migration” as a Commission portfolio, said the senior diplomat.

CORRECTION: This article has been amended to correct László Trócsányi’s relationship to Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party. While he served in a Fidesz government and ran as head of the Fidesz list in the European Parliament election, Trócsányi is not a member of the party.