Von der Leyen Starts on 1 December: European Parliament Agrees All European Commission Candidates, Including Hungarian

The European Parliament yesterday agreed to approve all seven still-unapproved candidates for the new European Commission, ending a weeks-long deadlock among political factions. This was reported by several sources to Politico.

On the eve of Wednesday, political blocs in the EU signed a long-awaited agreement to complete the formation of the European Commission, which will allow President Ursula von der Leyen to begin her term in office on 1 December.

‘Under control!’ shouted Parliament Speaker Roberta Metsola as she left the room where MEPs signed the agreement, Politico reports.

Metsola called the meeting to approve the final commissioners early to prevent the schedule from being pushed back to next week, a parliamentary official said.

Von der Leyen herself also arrived at the European Parliament for high-level talks on Wednesday, added the official, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about the meeting.

The hearings for the European commissioner candidates began on 4 November and were due to end last week.

The political agreement halted the lengthy vetting process for the six executive vice presidents (Kaja Kallas, Raffaele Fitto, Roxane Minzatu, Stefan Sejourne, Teresa Ribera and Henna Virkkunen), as well as for the far-right Hungarian candidate Oliver Varghese, who was stripped of some negotiating responsibilities after the hearings.

Disputes among MEPs were, in particular, over the candidacies of Italian Raffaele Fitto, Hungarian Oliver Varghese and Spanish Teresa Ribera.

The details of how the dispute was resolved are not disclosed.

With this new composition, the Commission reflects the EU's tilt to the right following the European elections in June, where the right and far-right made gains in key member states such as Italy, France and Germany.