A maximum limiting factor that applies to the community policy, and that day by day is deployed by the European Commission. When there are differences between departments, it translates into delays in the processing of legislative files or in the cancellation of commissioners' press conferences. However, in the last 24 hours, the discrepancies between two of the most relevant positions in the Union have transcended the private sphere.
The executive vice-president and head of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, is willing to mark her own profile in a College of Commissioners that is not characterized by public clashes. Specifically, the Spanish official distanced herself from the stance that President Ursula von der Leyen had followed before a meeting of European ambassadors, in which she asked Europe to stop being the guardian of a rules-based international order.
Balances of power
For Ribera, entering into a debate in which international law or the need to work outside of it seems to be questioned “is very dangerous”. Instead, she advocated for a Europe that closes ranks with the secretary general of the United Nations given the escalation of tension in the Middle East, after the start of the military invasion by the United States and Israel against Iran. “The respect for International Law is a basic premise, not only from the moral point of view or of peace-building, but also from the point of view of security,” she added.
Hours later after having opened fire against her superior, the vice-president backed down assuring that it was “fair” to say that the German “might not have expressed herself in the most adequate way, but is fully committed to the international order”. In a press conference after the meeting of the College of Commissioners in Strasbourg, she pointed out that the intention was to focus attention on other aspects of external action and of the policies of the European Union.
Energy Shock
After the first front, Ribera returned to the attack the same day. Specifically, she replied to Von der Leyen for intervening in the energy policy of the twenty-seven member states. During a nuclear sector summit in Paris, the executive leader had appealed to the capitals to bet on the leadership of this type of technologies. Not only that: she had called it a “strategic error” to have turned its back on nuclear power, announcing 200 billion euros in new investments for microreactors.
During the same appearance from the European Parliament, he reminded his superiors that it must be the states that, according to their circumstances, cultural and industrial preferences, set their own “electricity mix”, preventing any actor from “imposing on them to act differently.”
“While I was part of the Government of Spain, I could not tell the French Government what to do or what not to do,” expressed the vice-president, stating that currently “the same thing happens as a member of the European Commission.” The statements come on the same day that Brussels approves its new strategy designed to boost small modular reactors, which, in the opinion of Von der Leyen, could consolidate as a new European industrial sector of high technology and high added value.
Ribera maintains the idea that there is a relevant number of Member States interested in moving towards common standards for this type of reactors. "I don't think there's anything that can be questioned about the role of the Commission in providing this common framework for those who want to advance in this area," she stressed, despite warning that the Executive cannot intervene in national energy policy.
If I had known you before...
This crossfire game is not new in the Schuman roundabout. Already in September, both leaders showed their differences when it came to qualifying as “genocide” or not the war in Gaza. Before a group of journalists in the corridors of the European Parliament, Ribera expressed that Von der Leyen was aware that “the issue of Gaza is not an issue that only worries and bothers me,” but that she understood “that I can personally give my opinion on the matter.” The truth is that Ribera was the first of her colleagues in the European Commission to distance herself by using the term to speak of the situation in Middle East.
That happened on a Thursday. One day later it was planned that the Commission would announce a millionaire fine to Google. Due to her competencies as head of Community Competition, Ribera was in charge of announcing the sanction. According to what Demócrata learned at the time, the predisposition of the vice president was to present the measure to the media. This did not end up happening and there were those in Brussels who interpreted it as an attempt by the presidency for her to be asked about Gaza. “Never ever have I encountered any type of veto,” clarified Ribera, explaining that the fine “spoke for itself”.
The voice of the European socialists
Ribera is the most influential socialist in the organizational chart of the European Commission and has also stood out in other debates, such as the flexibilization of CO2 emission cuts for automotive manufacturers. On the issue of the Iran war, she has been backed by the other highest-ranking socialist in European politics, the president of the European Council, António Costa.
Before the annual conference of European Union ambassadors, where Von der Leyen spoke of the end of the old world order, the Portuguese emphasized the need to ensure that the world remains based on rules, at a time when Washington would be challenging the international order. “This multipolar world requires multilateral solutions, not spheres of influence where power politics replaces international law,” he exclaimed.
Still, the former prime minister did recognize the complexity of coordinating and generating consensus in a European Union in which up to twenty-seven different foreign policies coexist. That said, he celebrated that “that diversity is the wealth of our Union”.
In a clear nod to the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, who has seen her role in this crisis relegated by Von der Leyen, she stressed that it is vital that the continent “speak with one voice to defend its values and interests”. “In times like these, values and trust are the foundations of our influence. That is what makes us powerful,” she concluded.