BRUSSELS (AP) 鈥 The process of vetting candidates for some of the European Union鈥檚 most important jobs bogged down in acrimony on Wednesday as the biggest political faction in the bloc鈥檚 parliament was accused of collaborating with the hard right.
Since Nov. 4, senior lawmakers have been questioning the 26 new members of the EU鈥檚 increasingly powerful executive branch, the European Commission, to see whether they鈥檙e suitable to lead the bloc for the next five years on policies like trade, agriculture or .
The hearings wound up on Tuesday when the six most senior members of the commission -鈥 to be led again by President Ursula von der Leyen 鈥- were questioned for three hours. But key votes on their performance were postponed as political tensions mounted.
The leader of the pro-environment Greens, Terry Reintke, accused the big conservative group in parliament of 鈥渃heap politics and shady maneuvers.鈥 She said that its tactics 鈥渁re creating damaging instability in the EU institutions.鈥
Von der Leyen is a member of that pan-European political group 鈥- the European People鈥檚 Party. The EPP remained the biggest faction in parliament following EU-wide elections in June, but other centrist formations like the Greens lost ground as the its position.
It means that the EPP can operate without its usual mainstream political allies. Fourteen of its members have been nominated to the commission.
The group has already turned to the hard right 鈥- home to parties like Italian Premier Georgia Meloni鈥檚 Brothers of Italy, which has , and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb谩n鈥檚 stridently nationalist Fidesz 鈥- to force through the hearing schedule.
The second biggest bloc in the assembly, the center-left Socialists and Democrats, accused the EPP of defying an understanding that mainstream pro-European groups would leave the hard right out in the cold.
The socialists accused the EPP leadership of 鈥渋rresponsible behavior鈥 by working with the Spanish populist party Vox to accuse its nominee for the EU鈥檚 top climate and competition post, Teresa Ribera, of failing to do enough to prevent the in eastern Spain.
The socialists said they voted in July to give von der Leyen a second term at the helm 鈥渙n the basis of a pro-European, democratic majority.鈥 But recently, they added, 鈥渨e have seen that the EPP鈥檚 leadership is willing to risk the stability of the European Institutions.鈥
The Greens say they will refuse to back Meloni ally Raffaele Fitto as a new executive vice president 鈥 one of five at the commission 鈥 to oversee 鈥渃ohesion policy,鈥 which helps finance infrastructure projects with a big slice of the EU鈥檚 massive budget.
鈥淭hrough their desperation to form unscrupulous alliances with the far-right, the EPP is undermining the democratic process of evaluating the skills of candidate commissioners,鈥 Reintke said.
Von der Leyen had hoped proceedings would be wrapped up so that her new commission could start work by early December. It was not immediately clear when the endorsement votes might take place, or what allies the EPP might choose to secure them.
