EU: Politico-EP Committees To Approve New COM, Setting Stage For 1 Dec Start

Politico reports that the European Parliament is set to approve the seven pending Commissioners-designate that will allow the new European Commission to take office on 1 December according to four EP and political officials. Bitter disagreements between the two largest political groups in the parliament - the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) and the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) - held up approval of the six nominated Executive Vice Presidents (Kaja Kallas, Raffaele Fitto, Roxana Mînzatu, Stéphane Séjourné, Teresa Ribera and Henna Virkkunen) and Hungary's Olivér Várhelyi. 

• The S&D had objected to Raffaele Fito, hailing from Italian PM Giorgia Meloni's right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) bloc, holding such a senior position (Cohesion and Reforms). In turn, the EPP objected to Spain's Teresa Ribera receiving the 'Clean, Just and Competitive Transition' in the wake of the devastating floods that hit Valencia as well as pushback from parties of the Spanish right.
• Should all candidates make it out of committee, then a vote among all MEPs on the entire new Commission will likely take place during next week's plenary session allowing the Commissioners-designate to take office on 1 December.
• While getting the new Commission into office will be seen as a positive sign for the functioning of the Union, the major divisions the hearings process has exposed between the political groups in the EP risks further disagreement hitting policy-making in the weeks and months to come.