It’s hardly\u00a0the orderly transition of power\u00a0Jean-Claude Juncker might have hoped for.<\/p>\n
The president of the European Commission’s plan to install\u00a0G\u00fcnther Oettinger as European commissioner for budget and human resources\u00a0following the resignation of\u00a0Vice President Kristalina Georgieva is caught in a political firestorm. Oettinger’s\u00a0use of the term \u201cslant eyes\u201d in reference to the Chinese, the latest in a long line of ill-judged remarks, has given his critics plenty of ammunition at a time when Juncker least needed raised eyebrows.<\/p>\n
The Commission president himself has remained quiet, with spokesperson Margaritis Schinas declining repeated\u00a0invitations to condemn Oettinger\u2019s comments at a press briefing Monday. Schinas was forced to insist to doubtful reporters that Juncker still runs\u00a0the Commission.<\/p>\n
While\u00a0it is unlikely that Juncker will backtrack on his plan to nominate Oettinger, the European Parliament will have to approve the move, Schinas said Monday, and there is little sign MEPs\u00a0intend to allow the process to run smoothly.<\/p>\n
Many\u00a0have been quick to voice their disapproval.<\/p>\n
“You’ve got to ask how many times Oettinger is going to get away with this behavior,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Syed Kamall, leader of the third-biggest group in the Parliament, the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists. Describing\u00a0Oettinger as \u201ca gaffe-prone, untouchable German man” the British MEP\u00a0mocked Oettinger\u2019s working ethic\u00a0and suitability for the budget portfolio: \u201cNo doubt the Commission’s budget department has already made a bulk order of abacuses in preparation for his arrival.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI expect action on behalf of Mr. Juncker who has to ask Mr. Oettinger to resign,\u201d said Fabio de Masi, a left-leaning German MEP. \u201cMr. Oettinger\u2019s behavior and that of many [former and present] Commissioners\u00a0\u2014 Juncker, [former European Commission President\u00a0Jos\u00e9 Manuel] Barroso, [former Commissioner\u00a0Neelie] Kroes \u2014 indicate that they lost any sense of realism and feel untouchable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gianni Pittella, who leads a group of 190 socialist MEPs, said Oettinger “should apologize for his offensive comments.”<\/p>\n
Senior socialist MEP Tanja Fajon linked Oettinger\u2019s remarks\u00a0to a growing mood of intolerance across the continent. \u201cIn times of increasing populism and hate speech, the EU should be a leader in promoting tolerance and anti-discrimination, and not adding fuel to the fire,\u201d she said. Romanian MEP Sorin Mois\u0103 rejected Oettinger\u2019s attempts to cast his comments as sloppy authenticity. \u201cIndulging in prejudice is not being a free spirit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The furor may drag on for months, with MEPs from the budget committee indicating they would rather\u00a0wait until the incumbent Georgieva leaves her post, possibly as late as December 31, before holding a hearing to cross-examine her\u00a0replacement. “I don’t think we are going to hold\u00a0any hearing before Georgieva ends her term,\u201d said Jos\u00e9 Manuel Fernandes, EPP budget coordinator.<\/p>\n
Younous Omarjee, a left-wing MEP from France, said\u00a0that if Oettinger were to become the Commission\u2019s vice president for budget he would\u00a0“refuse to work with him and would call on my colleagues to do so as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michiel van Hulten, a former MEP from Netherlands, also suggested\u00a0that the European Parliament could make Oettinger\u2019s position in the Commission untenable if they refused to back him for the budget role, provided \u201cthere’s political will to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
MEPs and campaigners have also raised concerns\u00a0that Oettinger may also be handed the human resources portion of Georgieva\u2019s responsibilities as well as control over the EU budget.<\/p>\n
Julia Reda, a left-wing German MEP said Oettinger\u2019s views \u201cshould utterly disqualify him for any post in the Commission, let alone Georgieva’s portfolio which includes the oversight over the Commission’s human resources,\u201d and its obligation to promote a diverse workforce.<\/p>\n
Senior MEPs on the budget committee are already at odds with each other about the impact of Georgieva\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n
While Fernandes downplayed suggestions that the drawn-out process would affect EU budget negotiations based on Georgieva\u2019s \u201cexcellent proposals,\u201d the budget committee chair Jean Arthuis, a centrist liberal, said her resignation would have repercussions, describing Georgieva\u2019s departure as \u201cterrible\u201d and \u201cworrisome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dennis de Jong, who coordinates the left-wing positions in Parliament\u2019s budget control committee, said: \u201cI shall have to heavily rely on Mr. Oettinger’s performance in this area. That includes matters such as accountability and integrity. Without a clear explanation and apology from him on his recent speech, I do not feel confident that we can co-operate in a constructive manner.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s hardly\u00a0the orderly transition of power\u00a0Jean-Claude Juncker might have hoped for. The president of the European Commission’s plan to install\u00a0G\u00fcnther Oettinger as European commissioner for budget and human resources\u00a0following the resignation of\u00a0Vice President Kristalina Georgieva is caught in a political firestorm. Oettinger’s\u00a0use of the term \u201cslant eyes\u201d in reference to the Chinese, the latest in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}