The European Commission is “on the edge” regarding its management, EU Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová said on Monday as she discussed the future structure of the European Union’s executive.
Jourová commented on the state of the European Commission at a panel debate organised to mark 20 years of Czech EU membership.
“There is already an organisation into executive vice-presidents, vice-presidents, ordinary commissioners. This division of portfolios overlaps somewhere, and we have had to learn to work with that,” Jourová said at the panel debate on Monday.
“I would say we are on the edge of what is doable managerially,” she added.
In 2019, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen decided to structure the body around eight vice-presidents, three of whom are executive vice-presidents responsible for the three key topics of the political agenda – the European Green Deal, digitalisation and the economy.
The remaining five vice presidents, including Jourová, coordinate specific policy priorities.
However, with EU enlargement expected to be around the corner, Jourová believes the need to change the EU’s mechanisms is even more pressing.
Commenting on the possible accession of many more countries that would make up a European Union of 35, Jourova also said that “the idea of each country having its own commissioner with a portfolio is very problematic”.
The Lisbon Treaty limited the number of commissioners to two-thirds of the number of EU member states, with an equal rotation of commissioners between all countries.
But in 2009, using their newly acquired power to review the number of commissioners, EU leaders at the European Council decided the Commission would have as many commissioners as there are member states.
In a draft manifesto first published by Euractiv last week of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the largest EU political family suggests reshaping the EU Commission’s portfolios adding more.
Particularly, the EPP suggests the creation of three additional Commission posts: one for Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), one dedicated Commissioner for fisheries as well as for defence issues.
Limitations on ‘blackmailing’ vetoes
Meanwhile, Jourová is also convinced that EU countries should discuss possible changes to unanimous decision-making in some EU policies.
“We should identify a narrow set of key existential issues that, when they need to be addressed, the vetoing state should demonstrate a very strong national interest,” Jourová said.
Today, some countries use the veto to blackmail the EU, demanding concessions or benefits in areas other than those on which they have vetoed – a practice which has, however, also blocked the EU decision-making process in areas such as aid to Ukraine.
In its manifesto, the EPP backs such an approach on foreign matters.
“We […] advocate replacing the unanimity principle in foreign and defence policy decisions with qualified majority voting”, the draft manifesto reads.
For their side, EU socialists have also expressed their desire to abolish vetoes, saying, “national vetoes must not be used as bargaining chips”.
(Aneta Zachová | Euractiv.cz – Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos | Euractiv.com)
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Source: euractiv.com
