The clock is ticking. The socialist PES party family is accepting applications for its lead candidate until Jan. 17. Nicolas Schmit, Commissioner for Social Affairs, is so far the only comrade who has come out of hiding and expressed an interest. However, the Luxembourger’s candidacy has so far hit a snag: at home in his duchy, the Socialists are no longer represented in the government. A lead candidate who would not be proposed as Commissioner by the government in his home country after the European elections would not be a convincing offer to the voters.
PES party leader Stefan Löfven wants to solve Schmit’s problem. According to information from Table.Media, he has approached Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Luc Frieden. Frieden, a Christian Democrat, may signal that his Luxembourg government, formed by Liberals and Christian Democrats, would nominate the Socialist Schmit as a candidate for the next Commission after the European elections.
Why should the coalition in Luxembourg do this? Löfven is likely to make the case in Luxembourg that, with Schmit, Luxembourg would have a chance of having a vice-president in the next Commission. Otherwise, the small member state would at best have the prospect of a rather insignificant portfolio such as equality or international partnerships.
Will the argument hold water? We’ll have to wait and see. What is clear, however, is that the Socialists are not exactly going into the European elections with great self-confidence. They are probably not confident that they can finish in first place across the EU and then replace Ursula von der Leyen. It would be an admission that they are no longer playing for victory, but only for first place.
Apparently, he still feels at home in Brussels: in an interview with Latvian television in August, Valdis Dombrovskis said that he would like to continue his work at the Commission. There is a lot to do in the EU. He cited economic development, the Recovery and Resilience Facility, and support for Ukraine as important tasks.
Dombrovskis has been a member of the Commission for almost ten years: He became Vice-President in 2014 and was responsible for the euro and social dialog. In the current College, he is Executive Vice-President for an economy that works for people and has also been responsible for trade since 2020. This makes Dombrovskis the most influential politician in his home country of Latvia, a country with around 1.9 million inhabitants.
Trade policy is particularly important for the work of the Commission, as the EU has exclusive competence in this area. Dombrovskis is also the highest-ranking representative of the Christian Democratic European Party family EPP in the Commission behind Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Should Dombrovskis continue his work in the Commission, it would be his third consecutive term in office. The length of the term of office is a factor, says Karlis Bukovskis, director of the Latvian Institute of International Affairs think tank: “Do we want a new face in this post or do we stick with someone who is doing their job well?”
It is an open secret that Dombrovskis has a notable rival. Since the resignation of Krišjānis Kariņš as Prime Minister in the summer, there has been speculation as to whether it will not be Kariņš who goes to Brussels instead of his party colleague Dombrovskis. In the new government, which has been in office since September, Kariņš has taken over as Foreign Minister. However, it was suspected from the outset that he would feel underutilized.
In mid-November, Kariņš surprisingly announced that he was indeed seeking a top international job – as the successor to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. However, it is questionable whether he has a realistic chance of winning the post. Also in the running are Mark Rutte, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, and Kaja Kallas. Her decisive stance against Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war of aggression against Ukraine has earned Estonia’s Prime Minister a great deal of international respect. However, this could be a disadvantage for her position as the head of NATO.
This also applies to Kariņš, who, as Latvian Foreign Minister, also represents the hard line of the Baltic states against Russia. In Latvia, it is considered likely that Kariņš is working on a move to the Commission, meaning that there is likely to be direct competition between him and Dombrovskis.
The decision on the nomination of the EU Commissioner lies with Latvia’s Prime Minister Evika Siliņa. Like Dombrovskis and Kariņš, she belongs to the party alliance Jaunā Vienotība (New Unity), which is part of the EPP party family. However, Siliņa does not yet want to commit himself, at least publicly. The question of who will represent Latvia in the Commission will only be relevant next year in connection with the European elections, her spokesperson said when asked. Siliņa was long regarded as Kariņš’s right-hand woman. Before becoming Prime Minister, she was Parliamentary State Secretary in the State Chancellery under the then-head of government.
It is assumed that candidates for the post of Commissioner will first run for the European Parliament. In the 2014 and 2019 European elections, Dombrovskis was elected to the EP as his party’s lead candidate before moving to the Commission.
Kariņš’s popularity among the population has waned during his time as Prime Minister. He is also currently under massive pressure because he is accused of making extensive use of private jets. “Air Kariņš” is the mocking term used in Latvian media. The outrage is so great that Kariņš felt compelled to justify his use of private flights as Prime Minister verbosely. A few days later, Jaunā Vienotība published a statement in which the party emphasized its support for Kariņš and highlighted his political achievements – particularly at EU level.
According to Karlis Bukovskis, this scandal significantly damaged Kariņš’s chances of being nominated as a commissioner. However, there is no doubt that he is a capable politician.
Dombrovskis has also earned this reputation. Despite his reserved manner, he is regarded as a competent politician both in his home country and in Brussels. He is regarded as a professional who does his job quietly and reliably with great expertise. He is also said to have a certain modesty, which could now benefit him in his duel with Kariņš.
In Latvia, however, Dombrovskis is also strongly associated with the difficult period during the financial crisis. Critics, including those within the governing coalition, accused him of pursuing a stringent austerity policy as prime minister from 2009 onwards. “I still have the impression that he never really understood how high the social costs of this policy were”, says Andris Šuvajevs. He has been co-chairman of the left-wing Progressives, one of Jaunā Vienotība’s two coalition partners in the Latvian government since September.
Karlis Bukovskis points out that some people in Latvia indirectly blame Dombrovskis’ austerity policy for the serious accident in 2013 when the roof of a supermarket in the Riga district of Zolitūde collapsed. 54 people lost their lives. Dombrovskis took political responsibility for the disaster by resigning as Prime Minister. He probably did so reluctantly; he was clearly fighting back tears when he announced his resignation. Many people in the country have not forgotten this either.
However, someone like Andris Šuvajevs also has words of praise for Dombrovskis – for example concerning his clear stance on Ukraine and his reliability. At the same time, the Progressive politician questions whether the next commissioner will necessarily come from Jaunā Vienotība, even if it is the strongest partner in the government. His party is also interested in being represented at the highest European level.
“I can imagine a scenario in which neither Dombrovskis nor Kariņš becomes the next commissioner”, says think tank head Bukovskis. Both are ambitious and comparatively young. Kariņš is 59, and Dombrovskis is 52 years old. Much depends on whether a suitable position can be found for them outside the Commission.
When Sophia Russack talks about the EU, her sentences are long and her gestures grand. She doesn’t want to leave anything out when talking about her favorite topic. “The EU is unique because it’s a union of states that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world – that’s why it’s an exciting research subject”, says Russack, 36. She has been working as a research assistant at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels, a think tank that analyzes EU affairs, for seven years. She is currently writing her doctoral thesis on how political the Commission was under Jean-Claude Juncker.
She discovered her passion for the EU while studying sociology and politics at Goethe University Frankfurt. She deepened this knowledge in the Research Master’s program in European Studies in Maastricht. Even then, Russack realized that she wanted to know how everything really works in Brussels – and ended up at CEPS after graduating. “It’s an exciting interface between theory and practice: I can do research and at the same time develop concrete proposals on how things can be done better.”
She focuses on the institutions of the EU, in particular the EU Commission. She also looks at how the EU could become more democratic. “The democratic quality of the EU is not great, but it is not as bad as its reputation.” Particularly, Russack calls for greater transparency in the Commission presidential election and demands that the Council, Parliament, and Commission communicate their work more to the outside world. “Voters must be able to better understand what the EU is doing.”
She is therefore in favor of citizens’ councils at the EU level and believes that the election to the EU Parliament needs more national campaigning and a uniform election date across the EU. “The EU makes all our lives easier – for example by abolishing roaming charges or the Erasmus program. Unfortunately, the EU doesn’t always manage to sell these successes as such”, says Russack.
She believes in the stability of the EU – despite the crises of recent years: the euro crisis, Covid, and the war in Ukraine. “The war at the latest has shown how much unity there can be in the EU.” Nevertheless, Russack sees a danger: “The lack of the rule of law is the biggest problem because it endangers democracy.” Hungary in particular is putting the EU to the test. “If the EU does not develop stronger mechanisms to intervene, then this could spread to other countries.”
For now, however, Russack has to concentrate on her doctoral thesis; she has been released from CEPS until the end of February 2024 to write it. And what else? “I’m looking forward to the parliamentary elections in June.” After all: In the last elections in 2019, voter turnout was almost 50 percent, the highest it has been in 20 years. Mirjam Ratmann
The clock is ticking. The socialist PES party family is accepting applications for its lead candidate until Jan. 17. Nicolas Schmit, Commissioner for Social Affairs, is so far the only comrade who has come out of hiding and expressed an interest. However, the Luxembourger’s candidacy has so far hit a snag: at home in his duchy, the Socialists are no longer represented in the government. A lead candidate who would not be proposed as Commissioner by the government in his home country after the European elections would not be a convincing offer to the voters.
PES party leader Stefan Löfven wants to solve Schmit’s problem. According to information from Table.Media, he has approached Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Luc Frieden. Frieden, a Christian Democrat, may signal that his Luxembourg government, formed by Liberals and Christian Democrats, would nominate the Socialist Schmit as a candidate for the next Commission after the European elections.
Why should the coalition in Luxembourg do this? Löfven is likely to make the case in Luxembourg that, with Schmit, Luxembourg would have a chance of having a vice-president in the next Commission. Otherwise, the small member state would at best have the prospect of a rather insignificant portfolio such as equality or international partnerships.
Will the argument hold water? We’ll have to wait and see. What is clear, however, is that the Socialists are not exactly going into the European elections with great self-confidence. They are probably not confident that they can finish in first place across the EU and then replace Ursula von der Leyen. It would be an admission that they are no longer playing for victory, but only for first place.
Apparently, he still feels at home in Brussels: in an interview with Latvian television in August, Valdis Dombrovskis said that he would like to continue his work at the Commission. There is a lot to do in the EU. He cited economic development, the Recovery and Resilience Facility, and support for Ukraine as important tasks.
Dombrovskis has been a member of the Commission for almost ten years: He became Vice-President in 2014 and was responsible for the euro and social dialog. In the current College, he is Executive Vice-President for an economy that works for people and has also been responsible for trade since 2020. This makes Dombrovskis the most influential politician in his home country of Latvia, a country with around 1.9 million inhabitants.
Trade policy is particularly important for the work of the Commission, as the EU has exclusive competence in this area. Dombrovskis is also the highest-ranking representative of the Christian Democratic European Party family EPP in the Commission behind Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Should Dombrovskis continue his work in the Commission, it would be his third consecutive term in office. The length of the term of office is a factor, says Karlis Bukovskis, director of the Latvian Institute of International Affairs think tank: “Do we want a new face in this post or do we stick with someone who is doing their job well?”
It is an open secret that Dombrovskis has a notable rival. Since the resignation of Krišjānis Kariņš as Prime Minister in the summer, there has been speculation as to whether it will not be Kariņš who goes to Brussels instead of his party colleague Dombrovskis. In the new government, which has been in office since September, Kariņš has taken over as Foreign Minister. However, it was suspected from the outset that he would feel underutilized.
In mid-November, Kariņš surprisingly announced that he was indeed seeking a top international job – as the successor to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. However, it is questionable whether he has a realistic chance of winning the post. Also in the running are Mark Rutte, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, and Kaja Kallas. Her decisive stance against Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war of aggression against Ukraine has earned Estonia’s Prime Minister a great deal of international respect. However, this could be a disadvantage for her position as the head of NATO.
This also applies to Kariņš, who, as Latvian Foreign Minister, also represents the hard line of the Baltic states against Russia. In Latvia, it is considered likely that Kariņš is working on a move to the Commission, meaning that there is likely to be direct competition between him and Dombrovskis.
The decision on the nomination of the EU Commissioner lies with Latvia’s Prime Minister Evika Siliņa. Like Dombrovskis and Kariņš, she belongs to the party alliance Jaunā Vienotība (New Unity), which is part of the EPP party family. However, Siliņa does not yet want to commit himself, at least publicly. The question of who will represent Latvia in the Commission will only be relevant next year in connection with the European elections, her spokesperson said when asked. Siliņa was long regarded as Kariņš’s right-hand woman. Before becoming Prime Minister, she was Parliamentary State Secretary in the State Chancellery under the then-head of government.
It is assumed that candidates for the post of Commissioner will first run for the European Parliament. In the 2014 and 2019 European elections, Dombrovskis was elected to the EP as his party’s lead candidate before moving to the Commission.
Kariņš’s popularity among the population has waned during his time as Prime Minister. He is also currently under massive pressure because he is accused of making extensive use of private jets. “Air Kariņš” is the mocking term used in Latvian media. The outrage is so great that Kariņš felt compelled to justify his use of private flights as Prime Minister verbosely. A few days later, Jaunā Vienotība published a statement in which the party emphasized its support for Kariņš and highlighted his political achievements – particularly at EU level.
According to Karlis Bukovskis, this scandal significantly damaged Kariņš’s chances of being nominated as a commissioner. However, there is no doubt that he is a capable politician.
Dombrovskis has also earned this reputation. Despite his reserved manner, he is regarded as a competent politician both in his home country and in Brussels. He is regarded as a professional who does his job quietly and reliably with great expertise. He is also said to have a certain modesty, which could now benefit him in his duel with Kariņš.
In Latvia, however, Dombrovskis is also strongly associated with the difficult period during the financial crisis. Critics, including those within the governing coalition, accused him of pursuing a stringent austerity policy as prime minister from 2009 onwards. “I still have the impression that he never really understood how high the social costs of this policy were”, says Andris Šuvajevs. He has been co-chairman of the left-wing Progressives, one of Jaunā Vienotība’s two coalition partners in the Latvian government since September.
Karlis Bukovskis points out that some people in Latvia indirectly blame Dombrovskis’ austerity policy for the serious accident in 2013 when the roof of a supermarket in the Riga district of Zolitūde collapsed. 54 people lost their lives. Dombrovskis took political responsibility for the disaster by resigning as Prime Minister. He probably did so reluctantly; he was clearly fighting back tears when he announced his resignation. Many people in the country have not forgotten this either.
However, someone like Andris Šuvajevs also has words of praise for Dombrovskis – for example concerning his clear stance on Ukraine and his reliability. At the same time, the Progressive politician questions whether the next commissioner will necessarily come from Jaunā Vienotība, even if it is the strongest partner in the government. His party is also interested in being represented at the highest European level.
“I can imagine a scenario in which neither Dombrovskis nor Kariņš becomes the next commissioner”, says think tank head Bukovskis. Both are ambitious and comparatively young. Kariņš is 59, and Dombrovskis is 52 years old. Much depends on whether a suitable position can be found for them outside the Commission.
When Sophia Russack talks about the EU, her sentences are long and her gestures grand. She doesn’t want to leave anything out when talking about her favorite topic. “The EU is unique because it’s a union of states that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world – that’s why it’s an exciting research subject”, says Russack, 36. She has been working as a research assistant at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels, a think tank that analyzes EU affairs, for seven years. She is currently writing her doctoral thesis on how political the Commission was under Jean-Claude Juncker.
She discovered her passion for the EU while studying sociology and politics at Goethe University Frankfurt. She deepened this knowledge in the Research Master’s program in European Studies in Maastricht. Even then, Russack realized that she wanted to know how everything really works in Brussels – and ended up at CEPS after graduating. “It’s an exciting interface between theory and practice: I can do research and at the same time develop concrete proposals on how things can be done better.”
She focuses on the institutions of the EU, in particular the EU Commission. She also looks at how the EU could become more democratic. “The democratic quality of the EU is not great, but it is not as bad as its reputation.” Particularly, Russack calls for greater transparency in the Commission presidential election and demands that the Council, Parliament, and Commission communicate their work more to the outside world. “Voters must be able to better understand what the EU is doing.”
She is therefore in favor of citizens’ councils at the EU level and believes that the election to the EU Parliament needs more national campaigning and a uniform election date across the EU. “The EU makes all our lives easier – for example by abolishing roaming charges or the Erasmus program. Unfortunately, the EU doesn’t always manage to sell these successes as such”, says Russack.
She believes in the stability of the EU – despite the crises of recent years: the euro crisis, Covid, and the war in Ukraine. “The war at the latest has shown how much unity there can be in the EU.” Nevertheless, Russack sees a danger: “The lack of the rule of law is the biggest problem because it endangers democracy.” Hungary in particular is putting the EU to the test. “If the EU does not develop stronger mechanisms to intervene, then this could spread to other countries.”
For now, however, Russack has to concentrate on her doctoral thesis; she has been released from CEPS until the end of February 2024 to write it. And what else? “I’m looking forward to the parliamentary elections in June.” After all: In the last elections in 2019, voter turnout was almost 50 percent, the highest it has been in 20 years. Mirjam Ratmann
