The European Chamber has approved the amendment presented by the Greens to the text of the definitive evaluation of the EU budget in which the EU executive is asked to revoke the appointment of Mark Pieper European Union envoy for SMEs, a choice for which Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was the subject of strong criticism. The amendment, passed with 382 votes in favour, 144 once morest and 80 abstentions, notes “with concern that the chosen candidate is an outgoing MP from von der Leyen’s German political party and the Commission is invited to remedy the situation”.
The commissioners’ criticisms: “Lack of transparency”
The Greens’ amendment, passed by a large majority, in fact, disavows the nomination endorsed by von der Leyen of Pieper, MEP of the EPP and the CDU, as the new EU envoy for small and medium-sized enterprises. In a last-ditch effort, the EPP presented an oral amendment before the vote on the Greens’ proposal in which Pieper’s nomination was defended, underlining the need for a common reference for European SMEs. However, the majority of the House was opposed to putting the amendment to the vote. Pieper’s nomination has been at the forefront of the debate in Brussels for days following 4 commissioners, in a letter, underlined the lack of transparency of the procedure, supporting the thesis that the other two candidates in the running had more suitable requirements to fill the role for which he was German MEP chosen.
EU Commission: we are not reacting to the vote, the task remains
“We do not react to individual amendments that have been voted on. You know there are hundreds of articles in the report. We can react to all the recommendations made by Parliament in the context of the (budget) discharge report. The overall discharge report was positive, but we will react to the discharge as always. Parliament has the right to vote, but we have our institutional autonomy.” Thus the chief spokesperson of the European Commission, Eric Mamer, in the daily briefing with the press, answering a question on the vote of the European Parliament which rejects the disputed nomination of the German CDU MEP Markus Pieper as EU envoy for SMEs. “Yes and yes,” the spokesperson replied to those who asked if the Commission was still convinced that Mr. Pieper is the right person for this job and if he will start the role next week, the 16th as planned.
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2024-04-13 10:31:35
