{"id":214904,"date":"2025-12-04T11:34:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T11:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/214904\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T11:34:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T11:34:16","slug":"how-are-ursula-von-der-leyens-commissioners-getting-on-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/214904\/","title":{"rendered":"How are Ursula von der Leyen\u2019s commissioners getting on? \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a Brussels administration <\/a>where decision-making power has been heavily centralised in European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and her team, it can be difficult for the other 26 commissioners to be seen and heard. <\/p>\n

One year into the term of this commission team, how are some of those other politicians who sit beside von der Leyen at the top of the EU\u2019s executive arm faring? <\/p>\n

Most expected Spain\u2019s Teresa Ribera to become a vocal counterweight to von der Leyen<\/a>. However, apart from several pointed public interventions on the Gaza war<\/a>, that has not been the case. <\/p>\n

Ribera came from the ranks of Pedro S\u00e1nchez\u2019s left-wing government and was handed a big portfolio that includes overseeing the climate transition and the EU\u2019s powerful competition rules that frequently brought it into conflict with Apple, Google and other US tech multinationals<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Perhaps under pressure to avoid antagonising US president Donald Trump at a sensitive time in the transatlantic relationship, Ribera did not make a lot of noise about a significant decision to hit Google with a \u20ac2.9 billion fine in September. <\/p>\n

\"TeresaTeresa Ribera has not become a vocal counterweight to Ursula von der Leyen. Photograph: Olivier Matthys\/EPA
\n \" Henna Virkkunen has had to tiptoe around a political minefield. Photograph: Nicolas Tucat\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Henna Virkkunen, the Finnish commissioner in charge of the union\u2019s digital regulations, has had to tiptoe around the same political minefield. <\/p>\n

The Trump administration and US tech executives have been forcefully pushing back on EU rules intended to put some manners on the internet and cut down on illegal content on social media feeds. <\/p>\n

Virkkunen has had to ship the bulk of the criticism that the commission has been slow-walking investigations into Elon Musk\u2019s X platform as a result. It doesn\u2019t help that she is not an assured media performer. <\/p>\n

Making sure any fines and decisions can withstand inevitable challenges at the EU courts takes time, commission officials argue.<\/p>\n

Diplomats, EU officials and other observers have all privately commented on the absence of many big beasts in the current group of commissioners, which is known as a \u201ccollege\u201d, rather than a cabinet. <\/p>\n

The French commissioner for industrial policy Thierry Breton, green deal architect Frans Timmermans and competition chief Margrethe Vestager, all heavy hitters during von der Leyen\u2019s first term, are no longer there. Breton frequently clashed with the German commission president. <\/p>\n

Rivals to von der Leyen\u2019s influence have not really emerged so far in her second term in charge of the EU\u2019s executive body, which proposes laws and sets the bloc\u2019s trade policy. <\/p>\n

There has been some noticeable tension between the commission president and Kaja Kallas, the EU\u2019s top representative on foreign affairs. She chairs regular meetings of the 27 states\u2019 foreign ministers, but also sits around the commission\u2019s top table at college meetings. <\/p>\n

Her predecessor, the Spanish socialist Josep Borrell, was often at odds with von der Leyen, particularly in how he felt the EU should respond to Israel\u2019s war in Gaza. <\/p>\n

Kallas, a former prime minister of Estonia, has tried to take more consequential decisions during those meetings of foreign ministers. Her efforts to convince national governments about a plan to jointly contribute up to \u20ac40 billion in extra funding for Ukraine this year fell flat, due to a lack of buy-in from capitals. <\/p>\n

Trade commissioner Maro\u0161 \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d, a veteran of the commission\u2019s Berlaymont headquarters, probably did as well as could be expected in navigating the threats of an all-out trade war between Europe and the US. His knack for troubleshooting delicate political situations previously earned him the nickname \u201cMr Fix It\u201d. That moniker will probably be put to the test again, knowing Trump. <\/p>\n

\"MarošMaro\u0161 \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d navigated the threats of an all-out trade war between Europe and the US. Photograph: Jean-Christophe Verhaegen\/AFP via Getty Images \"ThereThere is not much evidence that Oliver Varhelyi has earned the trust of Ursula von der Leyen. Photograph: Olivier Hoslet\/EPA<\/p>\n

The most vulnerable of the EU commissioners is Oliv\u00e9r V\u00e1rhelyi, the pick of Hungary\u2019s far-right leader Viktor Orban. Von der Leyen puts a huge amount of stock in whether she can trust someone or not. There is little evident trust for V\u00e1rhelyi. <\/p>\n

The commissioner for health and animal welfare came under pressure in recent months, following reported allegations that some Hungarian diplomats posted to the EU were espionage agents, back when V\u00e1rhelyi was the country\u2019s top diplomat in Brussels. <\/p>\n

V\u00e1rhelyi will find himself in hot water with von der Leyen if any further revelations contradict his claims to have known nothing about any alleged spy ring. <\/p>\n

EU commissioner for justice Michael McGrath is seen as having had a solid start to his Brussels role. The Republic\u2019s former finance minister appears to have the trust of von der Leyen to go out and sell the message of the day. <\/p>\n

He will have a heavier legislative workload next year. McGrath is due to table stricter EU-level regulation of social media influencers and the addictive tricks social media apps use to keep people scrolling. <\/p>\n

The Digital Fairness Act will certainly draw resistance from Big Tech firms and possibly the attention of Trump, something McGrath will be very conscious of, as will von der Leyen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a Brussels administration where decision-making power has been heavily centralised in European Commission president Ursula von der…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,5766,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,65123,5,7,8,4894,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-214904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-european-commission","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-latest-news","15":"tag-latestnews","16":"tag-main-news","17":"tag-mainnews","18":"tag-michael-mcgrath","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-top-stories","21":"tag-topstories","22":"tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","23":"tag-world","24":"tag-world-news","25":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115661089836185924","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}