Europe’s new Commission: what comes next?
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After months of politicking, negotiations, hearings and what seemed like just waiting around, the European Parliament gave the green light to the new College of Commissioners for a five-year mandate. The European Commission , responsible for all legislative proposals in the EU, now has a back-to-business date of 1 December for a term that will go up until the summer of 2029, when the changeover process will start all over again. For the power sector, it will be important to see how this new Commission seeks to address challenges such as industrial competitiveness and decarbonisation, energy security and the electrification of the EU. So, now that we finally know who’s a part of this new Commission, we can look ahead to what comes next.
Meet your Commissioners
The College of Commissioners that head up the European Commission are composed of the Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen , and the 26 Commissioners from the EU Member States (Ms von der Leyen counting as Germany’s Commissioner) that work beneath her. Still, there is stratification among these 26. At a higher level, there are six Executive Vice-Presidents (EVPs) – as well as the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President – responsible for broad portfolios and working with the other 20 Commissioners that have direct access to the Directorate-Generals where the real work gets done.
In this Commission, these six higher-level Commissioners include:
Stepping down to the regular Commissioner level, the other 20 Commissioners include:
As we already highlighted in another Friday Feature, some of these Commissioners will have more weight than others when it comes to climate and energy policy, and therefore, more impact on the European power sector.
The Clean Industrial Deal team
The new Commissioners and their meandering titles slightly resemble a labyrinth where it will be difficult to reach a conclusion on who is responsible for what job. Indeed, Ms von der Leyen confirmed this in her speech to Parliament ahead of the vote on her College of Commissioners when she spoke of the Clean Industrial Deal – her follow-up act to the European Green Deal from her last mandate.
Ms von der Leyen declared that a Clean Industrial Deal is coming within the first 100 days of the Commission taking office and that the entire College would be responsible for making it happen. Of course, everyone will have their individual roles, and some will be more responsible than others. But within this all-encompassing deal-to-be, there are specifics which are of more interest to the power sector than others, and Ms von der Leyen highlighted them in her speech on Wednesday. What remains unclear is who has final say on what, due to the overlap of many of the tasks at hand
EVP Ribera – in the lead, as expected
Ms von der Leyen made a big show of putting Teresa Ribera first when talking about the team in charge of the Clean Industrial Deal, followed by a long and powerful applause among MEPs. Ms Ribera will take up arguably the second most powerful position in this Commission, responsible for staying the course on what was set by the Green Deal and ushering in the Clean Industrial Deal. She is tasked with developing the ‘clean’ objectives of the Deal and making sure it is complemented by competition policy that is fit for the world we are living in today. This is supposed to address one of the three points on Ms von der Leyen’s ‘Competitiveness Compass’ for the new mandate, on joint decarbonisation and competitiveness.
That being said, as highlighted in the Friday Feature on the Commissioner hearings, it was not so clear how Ms Ribera might combine these two objectives – MEPs were left wanting clearer answers on how to do so. State aid reform loomed large for her, although beyond the general call for it, it was not fleshed out. What is clear, however, is that she understands well the role her colleagues in the College will need to perform in order for her to meet her objectives for the mandate, which brings us to her other teammates.
EVP Séjourné – the number two in Thierry Breton’s shoes
Next to Ms Ribera will be her EVP colleague, Stéphane Séjourné, who replaces Thierry Breton from the last mandate. Mr Breton was responsible for the internal market in the last mandate, and that is widely what Mr Séjourné’s role will entail. Ms von der Leyen introduced Mr Séjourné as the EVP responsible for Europe’s internal market and for strengthening its’ industry, but as was the case during his hearing, it has not exactly been stipulated how- beyond throwing support behind the EUs strategically important sectors and supply chains.
It also remains to be seen how Mr Séjourné plans to work with his Collegial colleagues to deliver on his objectives – something lacking that Ms Ribera seemed to be quite clear on in her hearing. How he does, however, will be important for our next Commissioner on the list.
Hoekstra – Green Deal targets, Industrial Deal pragmaticism
When it comes to decarbonisation, Ms von der Leyen pointed at one of her few returning Commissioners from the last mandate, Wopke Hoekstra. The returning Climate, and now including Net Zero and Clean Growth, Commissioner will be responsible for achieving decarbonisation targets and championing climate action on the global stage as the EU’s representative to the Conference of Parties – better known as COP.
Hoekstra will certainly take a pragmatic approach to climate action and reaching net zero. In his hearing, he praised the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) as the crown jewel of EU climate policy and stated his intention to push such carbon pricing mechanisms onto the global stage to help better tackle climate change. He is also very clear that he wants to end subsidies for fossil fuels – as the money spent directly against decarbonisation objectives would be better spent on net zero technologies.
Perhaps this is where Ms Ribera’s state aid reform and Mr Séjourné’s support for strategically important sectors overlap. But the final brick in that wall will come from the last one mentioned today.
J?rgensen – make energy affordable
The new Energy Commissioner – also responsible for housing – is looking to be a crucial part of Europe’s competitiveness strategy. Ms von der Leyen introduced Mr J?rgensen and then swiftly pointed to the need for addressing ‘systemically high’ energy prices, a nod to the anticipated Affordable Energy Action Plan he is expected to work on rather immediately. She highlighted ending Russian liquified natural gas (LNG) imports and the deployment of more clean energy at home as lynchpins in the effort to ultimately lower the cost of energy for both European households and industry.
Perhaps an overlooked element we would like to mention here is that an Electrification Action Plan (EAP) that sets an indicative electrification target for 2030 at 35% would be another big step towards addressing high prices. Promoting electricity demand, at a time when the share of electricity in final energy use has stagnated around 23% for over a decade, would help improve energy efficiency, which itself would help lower consumers’ overall energy demand and cost. We have been adamant in our calls for an EAP throughout the changeover process and we do hope to see this promised initiative as a part of the plan to address affordability in the EU.
Mark your calendar
The new Commission is set to get to work immediately- with 1 December being day one and working until summer 2029 when the entire process restarts. But until then, we will have five years of legislation coming from a Commission that seeks to decarbonise Europe while making sure we remain globally competitive. In that regard, the 1st of December will start the clock on the 100-day countdown until President von der Leyen’s promised Clean Industrial Deal is due. There’s a lot of work ahead – things are about to get busy.
This week's edition written by:
Nicholas A. Steinwand, Policy Communications Advisor - Eurelectric
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