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The group split on the vote for final approval following decision-making meeting in Strasbourg. Co-chair Bas Eckhout says new executive is ‘good on content’, but several colleagues set to vote against.
The Green/European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament is split over whether to support the next European Commission, it emerged following a meeting in Strasbourg today.The European Parliament will vote at midday on Wednesday to approve the coming EU executive having approved all 26 commissioners with a backroom deal among centrist groups. An absolute majority of the votes cast is required to secure the green light, and abstentions do not count as votes against.The Greens voted for the approval of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last July, welcoming her commitments to develop a climate-neutral industrial policy and boost just transition funding.But support for von der Leyen’s new commission has now thinned out within the group. “We took a vote, and the outcome was that a small majority of the Green group is going to support the European Commission,” said Greens/EFA Dutch co-chair Bas Eickhout after a meeting on Monday evening in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.“We had a very long discussion, and I think what was very clear is that we all share arguments in favour or against very clearly. On our analysis and our assessment, we have the same conclusions: [the EC is] good on content.”The Greens appreciated the political guidelines put forward by Ursula von der Leyen and her recent statements in support of cooperation. “For me, the Greens/EFA group is part of the pro-European majority in the European Parliament, like the platform that I want to continue working with,” von der Leyen said in a press note released the same day.However, pro-environment MEPs also expressed concerns about the composition of the new Commission, which includes Hungary’s Olivér Várhelyi as commissioner for health and animal welfare and Italy’s Raffaele Fitto as executive vice president for cohesion and reforms. The Greens voted against both picks in their hearings.Eickhout said the choice of Fitto as an executive vice president “is a big problem for us”, citing his membership of a radical right-wing party. This could be read as a clear shift rightwards for the Commission, he said, in view of the fact that the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group will vote in favour of the new college.Nonetheless, Green leaders still consider a “four-group majority” in the European Parliament (Europe’s People Party, Socialist and Democrats, Renew Europe, and Green/EFA, without the ECR) to be possible. They believe this majority could pivot the next legislature’s policies toward a pro-environment approach and push forward the green transition. They stated that they want to “work constructively” while “opposing the far right”.“Closing the door now when von der Leyen is trying to build a bridge would make it impossible to build this majority. Whereas now, if we are saying we want again to give it a shot, there is still a possibility,” said German MEP Terry Reintke, who co-chairs the group with Eckhout.How will Green MEPs vote?On Monday, the Commission announced the hiring of former co-leader of the Green/EFA Philippe Lamberts as an advisor to President von der Leyen on the transition to a climate-neutral economy. The move was sharply criticised by the right-wing group Patriots for Europe as a naked attempt to co-opt Green votes.Eickhout denied this. “The name of Philippe Lambert has not been mentioned at any time during these two hours,” he said, referring to the lengthy meeting where the decision was made.Sources said discussion between the Green representatives was very intense. “It’s gonna be a mess,” one Green MEP said, leaving the room halfway through the meeting.Eickhout and Reintke did not specify how many members of the group were for and against, but said that several colleagues remained undecided.A Green/EFA source told Euronews that the German delegation (the largest in the group) would vote for the college, while Croatia’s Gordan Bosanac, Austria’s Thomas Waitz and Lena Schilling would vote against, along with Italians Cristina Guarda, Ignazio Marino, Benedetta Scuderi, and Leoluca Orlando, who previously opposed the election of Ursula von der Leyen.The Greens/EFA group comprises 53 MEPs, and with the vote on the Commission to be cast openly on Wednesday, the split will become evident.
