Socialists fear a lack of influence in von der Leyen’s Commission

Europe’s Socialists are crying foul over a lack of “political balance” in the European commissioner ranks, insisting that a Commission dominated by its President Ursula von der Leyen’s center-right party is a no-go. 
“It is important for our political family and the S&D group in the European Parliament to be well-represented in the next European Commission,” Victor Negrescu, commissioner nominee and head of the Romanian Socialist delegation in the Parliament, told POLITICO. 
The next College of Commissioners will lead the EU’s policy agenda for five years. While they come from different EU countries and hail from different political families, they are meant to put their differences to one side once appointed. Yet, political families often try and influence the EU’s agenda through their commissioners.  
The center-left Socialists have lost control of governments across the bloc in recent years, down from seven in 2022 to four at present (Denmark, Germany, Malta and Spain). In Romania, the Socialists govern in coalition with center-right. Meanwhile, the EPP has added prime minister after prime minister, and now controls 11 seats in the Council.  
While the Socialists came in second in this year’s European election behind von der Leyen’s European People’s Party, they could end up with just four commissioners out of 27 (five if you count Slovakia’s pick Maroš Šefčovič, whose party was suspended from the Party of European Socialists —PES — in October 2023 over rule of law concerns).
The EPP is on track to get 15 commissioners — including the president post for von der Leyen herself. Four are slated to go to the Socialists. The remaining posts will be divvied up among right-wingers and liberals.  
Apart from the imbalance, the Socialists’ frustration against the center-right has been amplified by the EPP’s refusal to give up commissioner posts to the center-left, as they demanded during the election campaign.  
A particular sore point for the Socialists is Luxembourg’s pick for the next Commission — the EPP’s Christophe Hansen.  
Hansen’s boss, Prime Minister Luc Frieden, is also EPP, so the pick should have been uncontroversial. But the Socialists hoped the Grand Duchy’s current commissioner, Nicolas Schmit, the Socialists’ lead candidate in the EU election and who rarely challenged von der Leyen during the campaign, could stay on. 
“The EPP behavior casts a deplorable cloud at the very beginning of von der Leyen’s second five-year mandate — in particular against the background that the [Socialists] made an advanced political concession in voting for von der Leyen in July,” René Repasi, head of the German Socialists in the Parliament, told POLITICO in reaction to Hansen’s nomination.  
The EPP group chair, Manfred Weber, declined a request for comment. 
As the nominee list is not yet complete — von der Leyen set a deadline of the end of August by which names had to be in — PES secretary-general Giacomo Filibeck told POLITICO he still hopes von der Leyen can convince Frieden to change his pick, as Schmit is “a better-suited candidate to handle an important portfolio.” 
“The nomination of Christophe Hansen, though legitimate, is shortsighted … The president of the Commission has anyway the chance to influence this process as has happened in the past,” Filibeck added.  
That may be wishful thinking. Von der Leyen and Frieden met before Luxembourg’s announcement, meaning she was aware of the move to nominate Hansen. 
In September, the commissioners, except for von der Leyen, will be grilled by Members of the European Parliament, who have the ability to reject European commissioner nominees.  
“Without the full support of [the Socialists] it is difficult to reach a strong majority in a fragmented European Parliament,” said Negrescu.  
Echoing Negrescu, Repasi warned that Socialist MEPs will demand EPP commissioners explain during the upcoming hearings how they will implement Socialist priorities in their work, threatening to bring them down if they fail to convince. 
Repasi further expects portfolios that deal with housing, social affairs, competition, trade, climate and energy to be in the hands of Socialist commissioners, while Negrescu hopes to see economic and social topics with a strong regulatory and financial might. 
“The less relevant the portfolios for S&D commissioners will be, the tougher it will become to get the S&D’s support in the commissioner hearings and thereafter,” Repasi said.