At the beginning of his parliamentary career, it did not seem out of the question that Friedrich Merz could make Europe his permanent field of activity. From 1989 to 1994, the Sauerland native sat in the European Parliament for the CDU – his first parliamentary mandate. However, it soon became clear that Merz preferred a career in the Bundestag to the EU. Nevertheless, the CDU’s designated candidate for chancellor in next year’s Bundestag elections has remained a European politiciansince Tuesday.
Merz would be no stranger to Brussels if he were to become chancellor. This would probably have been different with CSU leader Markus Söder. In at least two important policy areas, however, Merz is likely to be less concerned with reaching painful compromises at EU level than with rigidly enforcing national interests when necessary. And therefore, in a way, he will act no differently in Brussels than Olaf Scholz or Angela Merkel before him.
One area is joint borrowing along the lines of the Covid recovery fund, as former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has just deemed necessary to cover the enormous investment needs. Merz sees things differently: “I will do everything I can to prevent this European Union from spiraling into debt“, he said recently in the Bundestag.
Many southern Europeans are also likely to see some of the ideas of the CDU politician from Germany as a major problem when it comes to asylum and migration policy. In their eyes, Merz’s proposal to reject asylum seekers across the board at Germany’s borders is a national argument and not a solution to the migration problem that affects the whole of Europe.
Ursula von der Leyen was still working on the puzzle of her new Commission well into the night on Tuesday. It was not only the last-minute change from Thierry Breton to Stéphane Séjourné that forced the Commission President to make changes here and there in order to balance the many wishes of the member states. “It was not an easy exercise”, says a high-ranking Commission official.
Some “frugal” member states feared that representatives of traditionally more spending-friendly and dirigiste countries would dominate the new Commission. A first glance at the new structure with six Executive Vice-Presidents seemed to confirm these concerns: Teresa Ribera from Spain will be First Executive Vice-President with responsibility for Climate and Competition, Stéphane Séjourné from France for Internal Market and Industry, Raffaele Fitto from Italy for Cohesion Policy. In addition, Piotr Serafin from Poland, the representative of a net beneficiary country, will be responsible for the upcoming negotiations for the new financial framework.
Strong commissioners as a counterweight
However, von der Leyen balances this out by placing experienced Commissioners with direct access to the Directorates-General at the side of the three Executive Vice Presidents. In Ribera’s case, these are the Danish Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen, whom von der Leyen praised highly, and the Dutchman Wopke Hoekstra (Climate). Séjourné will have to deal with Hoekstra and Valdis Dombrovskis. Although the Latvian will be demoted from Executive Vice-President to simple Commissioner, he will be responsible for the excessive deficit procedure, among other things. “The key is control over the individual dossiers”, says the Commission.
The new Commission is therefore being received quite positively in Berlin and The Hague. Von der Leyen has solved the impossible puzzle quite well, according to the German government. But the government in Paris and Italy’s Prime Minister are also satisfied. “At last, Italy is once again a leading player in Europe”, explained Giorgia Meloni.
Von der Leyen wants to break down silos
The new structure in the Commission is not easy to read. Von der Leyen wants to break down the silos in the authority, which have sometimes resulted in contradictory legislative initiatives. Instead of fixed reporting hierarchies, responsibilitiesare to beorganized in a kind of matrix with many cross-links. “We have broken up the previously rigid stovepipes”, said von der Leyen. The entire college should work to improve competitiveness – this is one of the most important recommendations from Mario Draghi’s report.
However, global warmingalso remains a top priority for the CDU politician. In order to reconcile both issues, von der Leyen has appointed five Commissioners. The Spaniard Teresa Ribera will oversee everything as Executive Vice-President, but unlike Frans Timmermans, she will not be the all-powerful Super Commissioner. However, the exact allocation of portfolios was still partly unclear on Tuesday. Even Climate Commissioner Hoekstra was still puzzling over his exact area of responsibility and the boundaries to the other relevant departments.
Nexus between climate and industrial policy
With Ribera, Hoekstra and Jørgensen, three experienced climate politicians are responsible for Europe’s handling of the climate crisis. All three also have economic aspects in their portfolio that need to be reconciled with the European climate targets. The Commission President wants to do justice to the nexus between climate and industrial policy. Both the EPP and the Greens are therefore unlikely to put any obstacles in the way of the candidates in the EU Parliament’s Environment Committee.
Von der Leyen is also making some changes to agricultural and environmental policy. Fitto, the highest-ranking ECR representative in the Commission, will supervise the designated Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen (EPP). In his first term of office, Green Deal Commissioner Timmermans was still in charge of agriculture and also led the negotiations in the trilogues. This change should mean that the Commission’s proposals in the area of agriculture will be less controversial.
Séjourné and Ribera make industrial policy
The main responsibility for European industrial policy will lie with Stéphane Séjourné. However, he will have to coordinate with his colleague Ribera on the part of industrial policy that concerns the ecological transformation, for example the Clean Industrial Deal and the launch of new IPCEIs (Important Projects of Common European Interest). As Competition Commissioner, Ribera is also responsible for monitoring state aid, for which she is to develop a new set of rules. Von der Leyen sees an even greater need for reform in merger control.
Séjourné is to support European industry with a series of legislative proposals aimed at generating aminimum demand for European production. For example, he is to create green lead markets for European manufacturers via the Industrial Decarbonization Accelerator Act, and the reform of procurement directives is to give preference to European suppliers. Séjourné is also to develop a future “European Competitiveness Fund”.
The shift towards industrial policy can also be seen in the trade portfolio, which under Séjourné is the responsibility of Maroš Šefčovič. He is now called the Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, and the Directorate-General is renamed DG Trade and Economic Security. Trade policy in this Commission will therefore have to be aligned with the EU’s industrial policy objectives. Development policy will also be better aligned with the economic needs of the EU. Jozef Síkela from the Czech Republic will take over the Global Gateway Program and will, among other things, ensure that European industry has better access to critical raw materials from third countries.
Dombrovskis responsible for cutting red tape
Dombrovskis, on the other hand, is to take the lead in driving forward the reduction in bureaucracy. The 53-year-old is experienced and has a capable team to push through the promised reduction in reporting obligations for companies internally, says a high-ranking Commission official. His remit also includes negotiating a new agreement with the EU Parliament and Council on better regulation, which also obliges the other two EU institutions to carry out impact assessments of their legislative texts. Maroš Šefčovič is to support him in this as the Commissioner for Interinstitutional Relations.
The area of digital and innovation, which Draghi sees as the core of a new industrial strategy, is split between several Commissioners, led by Henna Virkkunen from Finland as Executive Vice-President. Her main task is to take care of the implementation of the major digital laws of the previous mandate, namely the DSA, DMA and AI Act. She is also tasked with driving forward the new Data Union and an AI strategy. She will be assisted by Ekatarina Zakharieva (Bulgaria), Commissioner for Start-ups, Research and Innovation, and Dombrovskis. The latter is to take care of productivity and reducing bureaucracy – both with the help of digitalization.
Criticism of lack of balance in defense policy
In addition to the Estonian Foreign Affairs Commissioner Kaja Kallas, the Finnish Commissioner Virkkunen and the new Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius from Lithuania will also be responsible for security and defense. One EU diplomat criticizes the lack of balance here, as all three advocate a tough stance towards Russia due to their geographical proximity. The conservative former Austrian Finance Minister Magnus Brunner is to be responsible for internal security and migration, which is likely to raise critical questions in the European Parliament in view of Vienna’s Schengen policy.
The Socialists and Democrats are already gunning for Raffaele Fitto. The head of the German group, René Repasi, said: “I assume that S&D will not vote for him in the committee.” It was clear that the ECR-governed Italy would provide a Commissioner. However, it is not understandable that he should be given a prominent position. Liberals and Greens also have reservations about Fitto.
The designated Hungarian Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi would like to reject at least the S&D, Renew, Greens and Left because he is considered a confidant of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and has made disparaging remarks about MEPs. Many Christian Democrats also have reservations, but do not deny his professional skills. However, the EPP, S&D and Renew do not want to give Orbán the opportunity to block the EU by rejecting Várhelyi on principle and thus delaying the start of the new Commission.
The EPP Group is satisfied with the proposal for the new Commission. So far, none of the 26 candidates are on a hit list. However, should the coordinators of the other groups in the Von der Leyen coalition refuse to support one of the 14 EPP Commissioners, they will return the favor. With János Allenbach-Ammann, Markus Grabitz, Lukas Scheid, Corinna Visser
EVP
Ursula von der Leyen
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Von der Leyen II: These are the 26 Commissioners and their portfolios
Teresa Ribera (Spain/S&D): Executive Vice-President for a clean, fair and competitive transition. Ribera will not only ensure that the decarbonization of industry is driven forward as part of the Green Deal, which she has already worked on as Spanish Environment Minister during the Spanish Council Presidency. Her new tasks in the Commission will focus in particular on Europe’s competitiveness. As Competition Commissioner, Ribera is to revise the guidelines for mergers, among other things. Even though she still has to prove her competence in the competitiveness portfolio, political opponents seem to have great confidence in the Spaniard. EPP leader Manfred Weber expressed his satisfaction in Strasbourg on Tuesday that there will not be another overpowering Frans Timmermans and emphasized that he also trusts Ribera to take care of Europe’s competitiveness. As Executive Vice-President, she also oversees the areas of climate, environment and energy.
Henna Virkkunen (Finland/EPP): Executive Vice-President for Technical Sovereignty, Security and Democracy. Von der Leyen wants Henna Virkkunen to play a central role in promoting Europe’s digital transformation. She should strengthen the EU’s technological sovereignty by driving forward important digital laws such as the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA). It also aims to improve cybersecurity, combat disinformation and protect and strengthen the EU’s democratic institutions. The development of an AI strategy is also one of her tasks, as is supporting the establishment of a European AI Research Council. Virkkunen was Minister for Public Administration before joining the European Parliament in 2014. As co-rapporteur for an EP own-initiative report on online platforms and the digital single market, she was one of the first parliamentarians to take a close look at the issue of platform regulation.
Stéphane Séjourné (France/Renew): Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy. President Emmanuel Macron has worked hard to find an influential portfolio. Stéphane Séjourné,his candidate appointed only on Monday, will now be one of six executive vice presidents with responsibility for the internal market, industry and SMEs. The 39-year-old lawyer and Macron confidant thus heads a large Directorate-General (Grow), which will be further enhanced by his responsibilities for the InvestEU investment program, IPCEI and the planned Competitiveness Fund. In return, he loses the responsibilities for digital affairs and defense, which his predecessor Thierry Breton also had under him. Séjourné is considered a shrewd politician, but has not yet stood out as an economic expert.
Kaja Kallas (Estonia/Renew): Foreign Affairs Commissioner and Vice-President. Alongside von der Leyen, Kallas has already been nominated by the European Council. Her official title is High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The mission letter states first and foremost that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and Western values must always be kept in mind in this policy area. “We live in a time of geostrategic rivalries.” She is to present a paper on the future of EU defense within 100 days. She should also intensify cooperation between NATO and the EU. She does not need to be reminded of the dangers posed by Russia: As the head of government of a small member state that shares a border with Russia and is repeatedly threatened by Moscow, she has become a bitter opponent and critic of Putin. Moscow reacted to this. Her name appeared on a wanted list of the Russian Interior Ministry.
Roxana Mînzatu (Romania/S&D): Executive Vice-President for People, Skills and Pensions. Depending on who you ask, the employment portfolio will be upgraded or downgraded, or both at the same time. On the one hand, the area of responsibility will be upgraded to Vice-President level. In this proposed super-department, the Romanian Mînzatu will be responsible for skills and education, as well as labor and social affairs. In addition to DG Employment, she will also be responsible for the Directorate-General for Education (DG EAC). However, the reference to employment and social affairs disappears completely from the title. Critics fear more than just a relabeling, but a pushing back of the topics. Social Democrat Mînzatu herself was a member of the national parliament for four years, then minister for the administration of EU funds for five months and then once again state secretary with the same task. She did more technical work in the ministry. Observers doubt that she has the communication skills to represent an important policy area to the outside world.
Raffaele Fitto (Italy/ECR): Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms. Fitto’s prominent position is a concession made by von der Leyen to Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. As Executive Vice-President, he will be responsible for cohesion policy and will therefore also play a key role in the negotiations on the next multiannual financial framework. Fitto has experience in this area; as Minister for European Affairs in Meloni’s cabinet, he was responsible for around €200 billion from the EU reconstruction fund. Until his move to Rome in autumn 2022, he was co-chair of the right-wing conservative ECR Group in the European Parliament – attracting criticism from the left-wing forces in Parliament.
Maroš Šefčovič (Slovakia): Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security. The 58-year-old is already entering his fourth term of office in the Commission. For von der Leyen, the independent diplomat serves as an all-purpose weapon. In the new Commission, he will be responsible for trade and economic security, which shows the shift in priorities. In his second role, he will also be responsible for relations with the European Parliament and the Council – reporting directly to his boss.
Valdis Dombrovskis (Latvia/EPP): Commissioner for Economic Efficiency and Productivity; Implementation and Simplification. The current Commission Vice-President and Trade Commissioner must relinquish his title. He will work as a normal Commissioner under Stéphane Séjourné. He will nevertheless remain influential, as DG ECFIN will report to him. As a counterweight to the Frenchman Séjourné, Dombrovskis will monitor compliance with EU fiscal rules and the implementation of the European Semester. Von der Leyen is also entrusting Dombrovskis with the Herculean task of sifting through the EU acquis for inconsistencies and unnecessary regulations and simplifying it. He has no shortage of experience: the former Latvian Prime Minister will be starting his eleventh year as EU Commissioner in 2025.
Dubravka Šuica (Croatia/EPP): Commissioner for the Mediterranean region. Former Commissioner for Democracy and Demography Dubravka Šuica will work in her new role for the Mediterranean region under the supervision of Kallas. Her main tasks include the negotiation and implementation of a new pact for the Mediterranean region. It will promote cooperation in the areas of migration, security, economic development and climate change. She will head a newly created Directorate-General focusing on the coordination of EU policies in the Mediterranean region.
Olivér Várhelyi (Hungary): Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare. The former Commissioner for Enlargement is to stay on – at least that is what his Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wants. Von der Leyen has given the 52-year-old lawyer the now very important health portfolio on the assumption that he is “willing and able to deliver”, as the Commission puts it. However, the Orbán confidant will not have an easy time surviving the hearing in the European Parliament.
Wopke Hoekstra (Netherlands/EPP): Commissioner for Climate Action, Net Zero and Clean Growth. The current Climate Commissioner will essentially retain his portfolio and continue to be responsible for international climate negotiations. This would ensure continuity in the difficult climate finance negotiations at the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Baku (COP29) in November. Hoekstra will also be responsible for the upcoming reviews of climate legislation (including the ETS and CO2 fleet targets) and the legislative package for the EU’s 2040 climate target. The Dutchman is also responsible for taxation. In addition to finalizing the negotiations on the Energy Tax Directive, this also includes the reform of corporate taxation.
Andrius Kubilius (Lithuania/EPP): Commissioner for Defense and Space. The former Prime Minister of Lithuania is to become the first Commissioner for Defense in the history of the Commission. However, the title is somewhat misleading – defense is the exclusive responsibility of the member states. Instead, Kubilius is to help boost the production capacities of the defense industry in Europe and improve the cross-border mobility of military equipment. Within 100 days of the launch, he and Kallas are to draw up a White Paper in which they quantify the investment requirements for a fully equipped European defense. However, there is hardly any money available for this, at least in the EU budget for this financial period until 2027.
Marta Kos (Slovenia): Commissioner for Enlargement. The Slovenian may be responsible for the next round of EU enlargement in this legislature. Negotiations with the countries in the Western Balkans, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine are to be driven forward, which is why Marta Kos seems predestined for the job of Enlargement Commissioner due to her background.
Jozef Síkela (Czech Republic): Commissioner for International Partnerships. Jozef Síkela is to become Commissioner for International Partnerships. He will lead the work on Global Gateway and ensure that Europe concludes partnerships that are beneficial for both sides, emphasized von der Leyen. The counter-proposal to China’s Belt and Road Initiative has still lacked momentum since its official launch. The Czech is to give Global Gateway more visibility and presentable successful projects. Síkela is currently Minister of Industry and Trade in his home country. The government in Prague has recently become increasingly critical of China – but is still part of China’s 14+1 platform.
Costas Kadis (Cyprus): Commissioner for Oceans and Fisheries. Cyprus’s government had hoped for the new post of Commissioner for the Mediterranean, but it went to Croatia. Kadis’ portfolio suits the 57-year-old biologist with a doctorate, who most recently taught environmental sciences as a professor and was previously also responsible for ecology as Minister of Agriculture. However, the geopolitical component that Nicosia had hoped for is missing. Kadis is to draw up the first European Ocean Pact, said von der Leyen, without explaining what lies behind the sonorous announcement.
Maria Luís Albuquerque (Portugal/S&D): Commissioner for Financial Services and for the Savings and Investment Union. The former Portuguese Finance Minister is to take care of the European financial markets. Albuquerque is to drive forward work on the Capital Markets Union and counteract the fragmentation of the European capital markets; she will take over the supervision of DG FISMA. According to the mission letter, her tasks include “improving market surveillance at EU level”, creating a simple and low-cost savings and investment product at EU level, reviving the securitization market for banks and “identifying a way forward” for the European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS). As a former finance minister, Albuquerque knows that these issues are politically very sensitive and quickly meet with resistance in the Council of Finance Ministers. Questions about Albuquerque’s connections to the private sector are likely to arise in the parliamentary hearing. She is currently employed by the European branch of the US bank Morgan Stanley and the investment fund Horizon Equity Partners – both companies that will be affected by her regulations.
Hadja Lahbib (Belgium/Renew): Commissioner for Crisis Management and Preparedness. The Belgian former foreign minister is tasked with organizing crisis management and humanitarian aid. The daughter of Algerian parents, she often reported from Afghanistan and the Middle East for public broadcaster RTBF and was a news anchor for the station until 2019. In July 2022, she unexpectedly switched to politics. In the Belgian government, Lahbib was most recently also responsible for foreign trade and culture. She stands for a liberal line and regularly advocates for the rights of Palestinians in Middle East politics.
Magnus Brunner (Austria/EPP): Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration. Brunner had hoped for an economic portfolio, but instead the former Austrian Finance Minister will have to deal with home affairs and migration over the next five years, one of the most politically thankless tasks of the next Commission. The 52-year-old ÖVP politician is considered friendly and sociable, but he has no experience with highly emotional issues such as Schengen and asylum. An internship in Brussels once brought the lawyer into politics.
Jessika Roswall (Sweden/EPP): Commissioner for the Environment, Water and a Competitive Circular Economy. The Commissioner for the Environment has been reduced in size by giving fisheries and oceans their own Commissioner. A move that former Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius described as sensible in an interview with Table.Briefings, as the interests of environmental protection and the fishing industry are simply too different. Sweden’s Jessika Roswall is now to propose a new bioeconomic strategy for the EU under the supervision of Teresa Ribera. Von der Leyen is demanding a legislative package for the chemical industry, which should include a simplification of the REACH chemicals regulation as well as clarity on the handling of PFAS perpetual chemicals.
Piotr Serafin (Poland/EPP): Commissioner for Budget and Public Administration. Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk had nominated his EU ambassador in Brussels to take over the budget portfolio – with success. Serafin, a 50-year-old lawyer, is taking on a difficult task: he has to lead the negotiations on the multiannual financial framework for the period 2028 to 2035. His contacts in government headquarters, which he built up as Head of Cabinet to former Council President Tusk, are likely to help him. (See this issue’s Heads.)
Dan Jørgensen (Denmark/S&D): Commissioner for Energy and Housing. Denmark’s former Energy Minister is to drive forward Europe’s Energy Union. Jørgensen comes from a heat pump country, which can undoubtedly also be seen as a political signal. Von der Leyen wants her new Energy Commissioner to lower energy prices by launching an initiative to promote the expansion of renewables and energy storage. With an action plan for electrification, Jørgensen aims to end Russian energy imports on the one hand and enable industrial change with clean electricity on the other. He is working under the supervision of Executive Vice President Teresa Ribera. Jørgensen is also responsible for the housing sector, where he is to develop the first European plan for affordable housing and, together with the ECB, establish a pan-European investment platform for sustainable and affordable housing. While Jørgensen already has relevant previous experience in the field of energy, he has none to date in the housing sector. The associations are open to him in this respect: They are more than happy to teach him, says Barbara Steenbergen from the European Tenants’ Association IUT.
Ekaterina Zaharieva (Bulgaria/EPP): Commissioner for Start-ups, Research and Innovation. Zaharieva is earmarked for a portfolio previously held by her compatriot Mariya Gabriel. The 49-year-old lawyer has experience from several ministerial posts in her home country and was Deputy Prime Minister. The lawyer was accused by a whistleblower of being involved in the illegal sale of Bulgarian passports. Investigations by Bulgarian authorities came to nothing and the scandal was never finally resolved.
Michael McGrath (Ireland/Renew): Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law. The current Irish Finance Minister and qualified accountant Michael McGrath has to break new ground in Brussels. He has been nominated by the Commission President as Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law. Among other things, this will bring him into conflict with Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, as McGrath will be responsible for the rule of law reports, which help decide whether Hungary receives EU funds or not. According to the mission letter, he is to develop a 28th regime – a type of European company law for innovative companies, which will then no longer have to deal with 27 national regulations. He is certain to meet with resistance from the member states.
Apostolos Tzitzikostas (Greece/EPP): Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism. Hewas sent to Brussels by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in order to involve the right wing of the conservative governing party more closely. In the area of transport and tourism, the ideological orientation of the former governor of the North Macedonia region will play a rather subordinate role. However, there were immediate calls from the industry for the 46-year-old not to focus solely on shipping, which plays an important role in his home country. The political scientist will also have to take an interest in the decarbonization of aviation and the expansion of the charging infrastructure.
Christophe Hansen (Luxembourg/EPP): Commissioner for Agriculture and Food. The new EU Commissioner for Agriculture does not exactly come from an agricultural country. Luxembourg has 1800 farms with 4600 employees. The 42-year-old is also not a classic agricultural politician. In the European Parliament, of which he was a member for one term, he dealt with agricultural policy as a member of the Environment and Trade Committee. He is in favor of the Mercosur trade agreement. It was the wish of Manfred Weber, leader of the EPP, which sees itself as a farmers’ party, that the next Commissioner for Agriculture should have an EPP party membership. His first task is to develop a vision for the future of EU agriculture in the first hundred days of his mandate. At the end of next year, he should present a proposal for the next CAP funding period. In doing so, he will have to make a proposal on how to proceed with direct payments – phase them out or maintain them.
Glenn Micallef (Malta/S&D): Commissioner for Intergenerational Equity, Youth, Culture and Sport. Glenn Micallef is tasked with developing a strategy to promote intergenerational equity, strengthen the European cultural and sporting model and improve working conditions for artists and cultural professionals. He works under the direction of the Executive Vice-President for People, Skills and Pensions and is supported by the Directorate-General for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport. He also has access to the Joint Research Center for his work on strategic foresight. Micallef brings experience in EU policy, governance and strategic advice as well as knowledge of European politics, law and economics. Most recently, he headed the secretariat of the Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela.
EU-Klimaziel 2040
Europawahlen 2024
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News
Companies promise to invest billions in German startups
Several German business giants promised Tuesday to inject 12 billion euros into the German venture capital ecosystem by 2030, following startups’ calls for better access to local funding.
The pledge from companies including Allianz, Deutsche Bank, and Commerzbank comes a week after Mario Draghi called for more public investment and VC funding for European tech startups in a landmark EU report. Draghi gave Europe a poor report card in the areas of AI, digitalization, and growing small companies; he called for better incentives for angel or seed capital investors, and more integrated procedures for doing business across the EU. “We are killing our small businesses,” Draghi said.
Strengthening the growth capital ecosystem
The issue of financing was front and center on Tuesday at the Startup Germany Summit, a daylong conference in Berlin organized by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. Officials acknowledged the need to make it easier to expand a business in Germany, and signed a pledge to strengthen the growth capital ecosystem.
“We have too much red tape, and you all know the red tape so very well,” Economics Minister Robert Habeck said, adding that the Draghi report is worth reading. “We have to be more daring as a country.”
Many start-ups move to the US
Throughout the startup summit, founders and venture capitalists lamented how difficult it can be for German and European startups to find the financing and support to scale up. And of European startups that successfully grow into large companies, only about half of them are funded by European capital, “and the gap is being plugged by US funds,” said Raluca Ragab, managing director at Eurazeo, a French private equity firm. “Many of these end up re-headquartering in the US. They follow the capital.”
Alexander Langholz-Baikousis, the chief financial officer of Berlin-based Cherry Ventures, said below 20% of his firm’s capital comes from Germany, even though half of its funds go toward German tech companies.
“We would like it to be more,” he said. “That’s a problem specific to Europe. It’s vastly different within the U.S.” J.D. Capeluto
Digitalisierung
Investitionen
Anti-cancer plan: Commission wants more non-smoking zones
The EU Commission is calling for more smoke-free zones to protect people from passive smoking and reduce the number of cancer deaths. “Every year, 700,000 people in the EU lose their lives due to tobacco consumption, including tens of thousands due to passive smoking”, said outgoing Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides. “In a European Health Union, we have a duty to protect our citizens, especially children and young people, from exposure to harmful smoke and emissions.”
Vaping also to be banned
Areas where children and young people spend a lot of time, such as public playgrounds and swimming pools, as well as bus stops and train stations, should therefore remain smoke-free in the future. The bans should therefore apply not only to cigarettes, but also to e-cigarettes and tobacco heaters.
The proposal is intended to promote the de-normalization of tobacco consumption, the Commission announced. As part of the fight against cancer, the EU Commission has set itself the goal of achieving a “tobacco-free generation” by 2040, in which less than five percent of the population smokes. As the member states are primarily responsible for health policy, the EU Commission can only make recommendations for national policies. Its proposals for the expansion of smoke-free zones are not legally binding. dpa
Europäischer Rat
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Must Reads
Heads
Piotr Serafin: Tusk’s confidant takes over key position
Piotr Serafin has been working with Donald Tusk for a long time.
It takes a certain amount of courage to appoint a representative of the largest net beneficiary country as Budget Commissioner. Piotr Serafin will focus on the preparations for the next MFF, said Ursula von der Leyen at the presentation of her team on Tuesday. In order to dispel any reservations in Berlin, the Commission President emphasized that the future Budget Commissioner would report directly to her and be accountable to her. The message is clear: When it comes to money, the Christian Democrat wants to retain control.
Apart from possible reservations in Berlin, the response to the nomination of the 50-year-old has been consistently positive: he welcomes the appointment of Piotr Serafin, reacted Romanian MEP Siegfried Mureșan (EPP). As the future lead negotiator for the MFF, he is looking forward to working together to reform the budget “and reconcile traditional priorities such as cohesion and agriculture with new priorities such as security and competitiveness”.
Mureșan had already emphasized in advance that the Polish candidate had all the prerequisites to work out the next MFF with the member states and the Parliament and to become a successful budget commissioner.
Experts on Polish EU policy
Apart from the fact that Piotr Serafin has never held an executive office, there is little doubt about his qualifications. As a young civil servant, he worked in the authority that promoted Poland’s accession negotiations from 1998 and later its integration into the EU. Later, as Poland’s government representative, he accompanied the negotiations for the budget for the years 2007 to 2013 and was Deputy Head of Cabinet to Janusz Lewandowski, then EU Commissioner for Financial Planning and Budget. From 2014 to 2019, Piotr Serafin was Head of Cabinet to Donald Tusk in his role as President of the European Council. After the change of power in Warsaw, Tusk sent his close companion to Brussels as Poland’s ambassador.
The likely future budget commissioner is therefore very familiar with the Brussels bubble and the EU institutions. According to diplomats, he has quickly established himself as a heavyweight in the powerful Committee of Permanent Representatives. Also because, unlike many representatives of the member states, he does not have to read his instructions from the capital off the page. Not all ambassadors have such a good and direct line to their head of government.
In Brussels, there is nothing but praise for Piotr Serafin. He is seen as sociable, constructive and a man with great social skills. For Donald Tusk, it is a clever move to be able to place his confidant in an important key position. The timing is perfect because the negotiations on the next MFF will not only begin in spring. Poland’s six-month presidency of the EU Council also starts on Jan. 1. sti
At the beginning of his parliamentary career, it did not seem out of the question that Friedrich Merz could make Europe his permanent field of activity. From 1989 to 1994, the Sauerland native sat in the European Parliament for the CDU – his first parliamentary mandate. However, it soon became clear that Merz preferred a career in the Bundestag to the EU. Nevertheless, the CDU’s designated candidate for chancellor in next year’s Bundestag elections has remained a European politiciansince Tuesday.
Merz would be no stranger to Brussels if he were to become chancellor. This would probably have been different with CSU leader Markus Söder. In at least two important policy areas, however, Merz is likely to be less concerned with reaching painful compromises at EU level than with rigidly enforcing national interests when necessary. And therefore, in a way, he will act no differently in Brussels than Olaf Scholz or Angela Merkel before him.
One area is joint borrowing along the lines of the Covid recovery fund, as former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has just deemed necessary to cover the enormous investment needs. Merz sees things differently: “I will do everything I can to prevent this European Union from spiraling into debt“, he said recently in the Bundestag.
Many southern Europeans are also likely to see some of the ideas of the CDU politician from Germany as a major problem when it comes to asylum and migration policy. In their eyes, Merz’s proposal to reject asylum seekers across the board at Germany’s borders is a national argument and not a solution to the migration problem that affects the whole of Europe.
Ursula von der Leyen was still working on the puzzle of her new Commission well into the night on Tuesday. It was not only the last-minute change from Thierry Breton to Stéphane Séjourné that forced the Commission President to make changes here and there in order to balance the many wishes of the member states. “It was not an easy exercise”, says a high-ranking Commission official.
Some “frugal” member states feared that representatives of traditionally more spending-friendly and dirigiste countries would dominate the new Commission. A first glance at the new structure with six Executive Vice-Presidents seemed to confirm these concerns: Teresa Ribera from Spain will be First Executive Vice-President with responsibility for Climate and Competition, Stéphane Séjourné from France for Internal Market and Industry, Raffaele Fitto from Italy for Cohesion Policy. In addition, Piotr Serafin from Poland, the representative of a net beneficiary country, will be responsible for the upcoming negotiations for the new financial framework.
Strong commissioners as a counterweight
However, von der Leyen balances this out by placing experienced Commissioners with direct access to the Directorates-General at the side of the three Executive Vice Presidents. In Ribera’s case, these are the Danish Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen, whom von der Leyen praised highly, and the Dutchman Wopke Hoekstra (Climate). Séjourné will have to deal with Hoekstra and Valdis Dombrovskis. Although the Latvian will be demoted from Executive Vice-President to simple Commissioner, he will be responsible for the excessive deficit procedure, among other things. “The key is control over the individual dossiers”, says the Commission.
The new Commission is therefore being received quite positively in Berlin and The Hague. Von der Leyen has solved the impossible puzzle quite well, according to the German government. But the government in Paris and Italy’s Prime Minister are also satisfied. “At last, Italy is once again a leading player in Europe”, explained Giorgia Meloni.
Von der Leyen wants to break down silos
The new structure in the Commission is not easy to read. Von der Leyen wants to break down the silos in the authority, which have sometimes resulted in contradictory legislative initiatives. Instead of fixed reporting hierarchies, responsibilitiesare to beorganized in a kind of matrix with many cross-links. “We have broken up the previously rigid stovepipes”, said von der Leyen. The entire college should work to improve competitiveness – this is one of the most important recommendations from Mario Draghi’s report.
However, global warmingalso remains a top priority for the CDU politician. In order to reconcile both issues, von der Leyen has appointed five Commissioners. The Spaniard Teresa Ribera will oversee everything as Executive Vice-President, but unlike Frans Timmermans, she will not be the all-powerful Super Commissioner. However, the exact allocation of portfolios was still partly unclear on Tuesday. Even Climate Commissioner Hoekstra was still puzzling over his exact area of responsibility and the boundaries to the other relevant departments.
Nexus between climate and industrial policy
With Ribera, Hoekstra and Jørgensen, three experienced climate politicians are responsible for Europe’s handling of the climate crisis. All three also have economic aspects in their portfolio that need to be reconciled with the European climate targets. The Commission President wants to do justice to the nexus between climate and industrial policy. Both the EPP and the Greens are therefore unlikely to put any obstacles in the way of the candidates in the EU Parliament’s Environment Committee.
Von der Leyen is also making some changes to agricultural and environmental policy. Fitto, the highest-ranking ECR representative in the Commission, will supervise the designated Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen (EPP). In his first term of office, Green Deal Commissioner Timmermans was still in charge of agriculture and also led the negotiations in the trilogues. This change should mean that the Commission’s proposals in the area of agriculture will be less controversial.
Séjourné and Ribera make industrial policy
The main responsibility for European industrial policy will lie with Stéphane Séjourné. However, he will have to coordinate with his colleague Ribera on the part of industrial policy that concerns the ecological transformation, for example the Clean Industrial Deal and the launch of new IPCEIs (Important Projects of Common European Interest). As Competition Commissioner, Ribera is also responsible for monitoring state aid, for which she is to develop a new set of rules. Von der Leyen sees an even greater need for reform in merger control.
Séjourné is to support European industry with a series of legislative proposals aimed at generating aminimum demand for European production. For example, he is to create green lead markets for European manufacturers via the Industrial Decarbonization Accelerator Act, and the reform of procurement directives is to give preference to European suppliers. Séjourné is also to develop a future “European Competitiveness Fund”.
The shift towards industrial policy can also be seen in the trade portfolio, which under Séjourné is the responsibility of Maroš Šefčovič. He is now called the Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, and the Directorate-General is renamed DG Trade and Economic Security. Trade policy in this Commission will therefore have to be aligned with the EU’s industrial policy objectives. Development policy will also be better aligned with the economic needs of the EU. Jozef Síkela from the Czech Republic will take over the Global Gateway Program and will, among other things, ensure that European industry has better access to critical raw materials from third countries.
Dombrovskis responsible for cutting red tape
Dombrovskis, on the other hand, is to take the lead in driving forward the reduction in bureaucracy. The 53-year-old is experienced and has a capable team to push through the promised reduction in reporting obligations for companies internally, says a high-ranking Commission official. His remit also includes negotiating a new agreement with the EU Parliament and Council on better regulation, which also obliges the other two EU institutions to carry out impact assessments of their legislative texts. Maroš Šefčovič is to support him in this as the Commissioner for Interinstitutional Relations.
The area of digital and innovation, which Draghi sees as the core of a new industrial strategy, is split between several Commissioners, led by Henna Virkkunen from Finland as Executive Vice-President. Her main task is to take care of the implementation of the major digital laws of the previous mandate, namely the DSA, DMA and AI Act. She is also tasked with driving forward the new Data Union and an AI strategy. She will be assisted by Ekatarina Zakharieva (Bulgaria), Commissioner for Start-ups, Research and Innovation, and Dombrovskis. The latter is to take care of productivity and reducing bureaucracy – both with the help of digitalization.
Criticism of lack of balance in defense policy
In addition to the Estonian Foreign Affairs Commissioner Kaja Kallas, the Finnish Commissioner Virkkunen and the new Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius from Lithuania will also be responsible for security and defense. One EU diplomat criticizes the lack of balance here, as all three advocate a tough stance towards Russia due to their geographical proximity. The conservative former Austrian Finance Minister Magnus Brunner is to be responsible for internal security and migration, which is likely to raise critical questions in the European Parliament in view of Vienna’s Schengen policy.
The Socialists and Democrats are already gunning for Raffaele Fitto. The head of the German group, René Repasi, said: “I assume that S&D will not vote for him in the committee.” It was clear that the ECR-governed Italy would provide a Commissioner. However, it is not understandable that he should be given a prominent position. Liberals and Greens also have reservations about Fitto.
The designated Hungarian Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi would like to reject at least the S&D, Renew, Greens and Left because he is considered a confidant of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and has made disparaging remarks about MEPs. Many Christian Democrats also have reservations, but do not deny his professional skills. However, the EPP, S&D and Renew do not want to give Orbán the opportunity to block the EU by rejecting Várhelyi on principle and thus delaying the start of the new Commission.
The EPP Group is satisfied with the proposal for the new Commission. So far, none of the 26 candidates are on a hit list. However, should the coordinators of the other groups in the Von der Leyen coalition refuse to support one of the 14 EPP Commissioners, they will return the favor. With János Allenbach-Ammann, Markus Grabitz, Lukas Scheid, Corinna Visser
EVP
Ursula von der Leyen
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Von der Leyen II: These are the 26 Commissioners and their portfolios
Teresa Ribera (Spain/S&D): Executive Vice-President for a clean, fair and competitive transition. Ribera will not only ensure that the decarbonization of industry is driven forward as part of the Green Deal, which she has already worked on as Spanish Environment Minister during the Spanish Council Presidency. Her new tasks in the Commission will focus in particular on Europe’s competitiveness. As Competition Commissioner, Ribera is to revise the guidelines for mergers, among other things. Even though she still has to prove her competence in the competitiveness portfolio, political opponents seem to have great confidence in the Spaniard. EPP leader Manfred Weber expressed his satisfaction in Strasbourg on Tuesday that there will not be another overpowering Frans Timmermans and emphasized that he also trusts Ribera to take care of Europe’s competitiveness. As Executive Vice-President, she also oversees the areas of climate, environment and energy.
Henna Virkkunen (Finland/EPP): Executive Vice-President for Technical Sovereignty, Security and Democracy. Von der Leyen wants Henna Virkkunen to play a central role in promoting Europe’s digital transformation. She should strengthen the EU’s technological sovereignty by driving forward important digital laws such as the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA). It also aims to improve cybersecurity, combat disinformation and protect and strengthen the EU’s democratic institutions. The development of an AI strategy is also one of her tasks, as is supporting the establishment of a European AI Research Council. Virkkunen was Minister for Public Administration before joining the European Parliament in 2014. As co-rapporteur for an EP own-initiative report on online platforms and the digital single market, she was one of the first parliamentarians to take a close look at the issue of platform regulation.
Stéphane Séjourné (France/Renew): Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy. President Emmanuel Macron has worked hard to find an influential portfolio. Stéphane Séjourné,his candidate appointed only on Monday, will now be one of six executive vice presidents with responsibility for the internal market, industry and SMEs. The 39-year-old lawyer and Macron confidant thus heads a large Directorate-General (Grow), which will be further enhanced by his responsibilities for the InvestEU investment program, IPCEI and the planned Competitiveness Fund. In return, he loses the responsibilities for digital affairs and defense, which his predecessor Thierry Breton also had under him. Séjourné is considered a shrewd politician, but has not yet stood out as an economic expert.
Kaja Kallas (Estonia/Renew): Foreign Affairs Commissioner and Vice-President. Alongside von der Leyen, Kallas has already been nominated by the European Council. Her official title is High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The mission letter states first and foremost that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and Western values must always be kept in mind in this policy area. “We live in a time of geostrategic rivalries.” She is to present a paper on the future of EU defense within 100 days. She should also intensify cooperation between NATO and the EU. She does not need to be reminded of the dangers posed by Russia: As the head of government of a small member state that shares a border with Russia and is repeatedly threatened by Moscow, she has become a bitter opponent and critic of Putin. Moscow reacted to this. Her name appeared on a wanted list of the Russian Interior Ministry.
Roxana Mînzatu (Romania/S&D): Executive Vice-President for People, Skills and Pensions. Depending on who you ask, the employment portfolio will be upgraded or downgraded, or both at the same time. On the one hand, the area of responsibility will be upgraded to Vice-President level. In this proposed super-department, the Romanian Mînzatu will be responsible for skills and education, as well as labor and social affairs. In addition to DG Employment, she will also be responsible for the Directorate-General for Education (DG EAC). However, the reference to employment and social affairs disappears completely from the title. Critics fear more than just a relabeling, but a pushing back of the topics. Social Democrat Mînzatu herself was a member of the national parliament for four years, then minister for the administration of EU funds for five months and then once again state secretary with the same task. She did more technical work in the ministry. Observers doubt that she has the communication skills to represent an important policy area to the outside world.
Raffaele Fitto (Italy/ECR): Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms. Fitto’s prominent position is a concession made by von der Leyen to Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. As Executive Vice-President, he will be responsible for cohesion policy and will therefore also play a key role in the negotiations on the next multiannual financial framework. Fitto has experience in this area; as Minister for European Affairs in Meloni’s cabinet, he was responsible for around €200 billion from the EU reconstruction fund. Until his move to Rome in autumn 2022, he was co-chair of the right-wing conservative ECR Group in the European Parliament – attracting criticism from the left-wing forces in Parliament.
Maroš Šefčovič (Slovakia): Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security. The 58-year-old is already entering his fourth term of office in the Commission. For von der Leyen, the independent diplomat serves as an all-purpose weapon. In the new Commission, he will be responsible for trade and economic security, which shows the shift in priorities. In his second role, he will also be responsible for relations with the European Parliament and the Council – reporting directly to his boss.
Valdis Dombrovskis (Latvia/EPP): Commissioner for Economic Efficiency and Productivity; Implementation and Simplification. The current Commission Vice-President and Trade Commissioner must relinquish his title. He will work as a normal Commissioner under Stéphane Séjourné. He will nevertheless remain influential, as DG ECFIN will report to him. As a counterweight to the Frenchman Séjourné, Dombrovskis will monitor compliance with EU fiscal rules and the implementation of the European Semester. Von der Leyen is also entrusting Dombrovskis with the Herculean task of sifting through the EU acquis for inconsistencies and unnecessary regulations and simplifying it. He has no shortage of experience: the former Latvian Prime Minister will be starting his eleventh year as EU Commissioner in 2025.
Dubravka Šuica (Croatia/EPP): Commissioner for the Mediterranean region. Former Commissioner for Democracy and Demography Dubravka Šuica will work in her new role for the Mediterranean region under the supervision of Kallas. Her main tasks include the negotiation and implementation of a new pact for the Mediterranean region. It will promote cooperation in the areas of migration, security, economic development and climate change. She will head a newly created Directorate-General focusing on the coordination of EU policies in the Mediterranean region.
Olivér Várhelyi (Hungary): Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare. The former Commissioner for Enlargement is to stay on – at least that is what his Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wants. Von der Leyen has given the 52-year-old lawyer the now very important health portfolio on the assumption that he is “willing and able to deliver”, as the Commission puts it. However, the Orbán confidant will not have an easy time surviving the hearing in the European Parliament.
Wopke Hoekstra (Netherlands/EPP): Commissioner for Climate Action, Net Zero and Clean Growth. The current Climate Commissioner will essentially retain his portfolio and continue to be responsible for international climate negotiations. This would ensure continuity in the difficult climate finance negotiations at the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Baku (COP29) in November. Hoekstra will also be responsible for the upcoming reviews of climate legislation (including the ETS and CO2 fleet targets) and the legislative package for the EU’s 2040 climate target. The Dutchman is also responsible for taxation. In addition to finalizing the negotiations on the Energy Tax Directive, this also includes the reform of corporate taxation.
Andrius Kubilius (Lithuania/EPP): Commissioner for Defense and Space. The former Prime Minister of Lithuania is to become the first Commissioner for Defense in the history of the Commission. However, the title is somewhat misleading – defense is the exclusive responsibility of the member states. Instead, Kubilius is to help boost the production capacities of the defense industry in Europe and improve the cross-border mobility of military equipment. Within 100 days of the launch, he and Kallas are to draw up a White Paper in which they quantify the investment requirements for a fully equipped European defense. However, there is hardly any money available for this, at least in the EU budget for this financial period until 2027.
Marta Kos (Slovenia): Commissioner for Enlargement. The Slovenian may be responsible for the next round of EU enlargement in this legislature. Negotiations with the countries in the Western Balkans, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine are to be driven forward, which is why Marta Kos seems predestined for the job of Enlargement Commissioner due to her background.
Jozef Síkela (Czech Republic): Commissioner for International Partnerships. Jozef Síkela is to become Commissioner for International Partnerships. He will lead the work on Global Gateway and ensure that Europe concludes partnerships that are beneficial for both sides, emphasized von der Leyen. The counter-proposal to China’s Belt and Road Initiative has still lacked momentum since its official launch. The Czech is to give Global Gateway more visibility and presentable successful projects. Síkela is currently Minister of Industry and Trade in his home country. The government in Prague has recently become increasingly critical of China – but is still part of China’s 14+1 platform.
Costas Kadis (Cyprus): Commissioner for Oceans and Fisheries. Cyprus’s government had hoped for the new post of Commissioner for the Mediterranean, but it went to Croatia. Kadis’ portfolio suits the 57-year-old biologist with a doctorate, who most recently taught environmental sciences as a professor and was previously also responsible for ecology as Minister of Agriculture. However, the geopolitical component that Nicosia had hoped for is missing. Kadis is to draw up the first European Ocean Pact, said von der Leyen, without explaining what lies behind the sonorous announcement.
Maria Luís Albuquerque (Portugal/S&D): Commissioner for Financial Services and for the Savings and Investment Union. The former Portuguese Finance Minister is to take care of the European financial markets. Albuquerque is to drive forward work on the Capital Markets Union and counteract the fragmentation of the European capital markets; she will take over the supervision of DG FISMA. According to the mission letter, her tasks include “improving market surveillance at EU level”, creating a simple and low-cost savings and investment product at EU level, reviving the securitization market for banks and “identifying a way forward” for the European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS). As a former finance minister, Albuquerque knows that these issues are politically very sensitive and quickly meet with resistance in the Council of Finance Ministers. Questions about Albuquerque’s connections to the private sector are likely to arise in the parliamentary hearing. She is currently employed by the European branch of the US bank Morgan Stanley and the investment fund Horizon Equity Partners – both companies that will be affected by her regulations.
Hadja Lahbib (Belgium/Renew): Commissioner for Crisis Management and Preparedness. The Belgian former foreign minister is tasked with organizing crisis management and humanitarian aid. The daughter of Algerian parents, she often reported from Afghanistan and the Middle East for public broadcaster RTBF and was a news anchor for the station until 2019. In July 2022, she unexpectedly switched to politics. In the Belgian government, Lahbib was most recently also responsible for foreign trade and culture. She stands for a liberal line and regularly advocates for the rights of Palestinians in Middle East politics.
Magnus Brunner (Austria/EPP): Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration. Brunner had hoped for an economic portfolio, but instead the former Austrian Finance Minister will have to deal with home affairs and migration over the next five years, one of the most politically thankless tasks of the next Commission. The 52-year-old ÖVP politician is considered friendly and sociable, but he has no experience with highly emotional issues such as Schengen and asylum. An internship in Brussels once brought the lawyer into politics.
Jessika Roswall (Sweden/EPP): Commissioner for the Environment, Water and a Competitive Circular Economy. The Commissioner for the Environment has been reduced in size by giving fisheries and oceans their own Commissioner. A move that former Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius described as sensible in an interview with Table.Briefings, as the interests of environmental protection and the fishing industry are simply too different. Sweden’s Jessika Roswall is now to propose a new bioeconomic strategy for the EU under the supervision of Teresa Ribera. Von der Leyen is demanding a legislative package for the chemical industry, which should include a simplification of the REACH chemicals regulation as well as clarity on the handling of PFAS perpetual chemicals.
Piotr Serafin (Poland/EPP): Commissioner for Budget and Public Administration. Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk had nominated his EU ambassador in Brussels to take over the budget portfolio – with success. Serafin, a 50-year-old lawyer, is taking on a difficult task: he has to lead the negotiations on the multiannual financial framework for the period 2028 to 2035. His contacts in government headquarters, which he built up as Head of Cabinet to former Council President Tusk, are likely to help him. (See this issue’s Heads.)
Dan Jørgensen (Denmark/S&D): Commissioner for Energy and Housing. Denmark’s former Energy Minister is to drive forward Europe’s Energy Union. Jørgensen comes from a heat pump country, which can undoubtedly also be seen as a political signal. Von der Leyen wants her new Energy Commissioner to lower energy prices by launching an initiative to promote the expansion of renewables and energy storage. With an action plan for electrification, Jørgensen aims to end Russian energy imports on the one hand and enable industrial change with clean electricity on the other. He is working under the supervision of Executive Vice President Teresa Ribera. Jørgensen is also responsible for the housing sector, where he is to develop the first European plan for affordable housing and, together with the ECB, establish a pan-European investment platform for sustainable and affordable housing. While Jørgensen already has relevant previous experience in the field of energy, he has none to date in the housing sector. The associations are open to him in this respect: They are more than happy to teach him, says Barbara Steenbergen from the European Tenants’ Association IUT.
Ekaterina Zaharieva (Bulgaria/EPP): Commissioner for Start-ups, Research and Innovation. Zaharieva is earmarked for a portfolio previously held by her compatriot Mariya Gabriel. The 49-year-old lawyer has experience from several ministerial posts in her home country and was Deputy Prime Minister. The lawyer was accused by a whistleblower of being involved in the illegal sale of Bulgarian passports. Investigations by Bulgarian authorities came to nothing and the scandal was never finally resolved.
Michael McGrath (Ireland/Renew): Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law. The current Irish Finance Minister and qualified accountant Michael McGrath has to break new ground in Brussels. He has been nominated by the Commission President as Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law. Among other things, this will bring him into conflict with Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, as McGrath will be responsible for the rule of law reports, which help decide whether Hungary receives EU funds or not. According to the mission letter, he is to develop a 28th regime – a type of European company law for innovative companies, which will then no longer have to deal with 27 national regulations. He is certain to meet with resistance from the member states.
Apostolos Tzitzikostas (Greece/EPP): Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism. Hewas sent to Brussels by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in order to involve the right wing of the conservative governing party more closely. In the area of transport and tourism, the ideological orientation of the former governor of the North Macedonia region will play a rather subordinate role. However, there were immediate calls from the industry for the 46-year-old not to focus solely on shipping, which plays an important role in his home country. The political scientist will also have to take an interest in the decarbonization of aviation and the expansion of the charging infrastructure.
Christophe Hansen (Luxembourg/EPP): Commissioner for Agriculture and Food. The new EU Commissioner for Agriculture does not exactly come from an agricultural country. Luxembourg has 1800 farms with 4600 employees. The 42-year-old is also not a classic agricultural politician. In the European Parliament, of which he was a member for one term, he dealt with agricultural policy as a member of the Environment and Trade Committee. He is in favor of the Mercosur trade agreement. It was the wish of Manfred Weber, leader of the EPP, which sees itself as a farmers’ party, that the next Commissioner for Agriculture should have an EPP party membership. His first task is to develop a vision for the future of EU agriculture in the first hundred days of his mandate. At the end of next year, he should present a proposal for the next CAP funding period. In doing so, he will have to make a proposal on how to proceed with direct payments – phase them out or maintain them.
Glenn Micallef (Malta/S&D): Commissioner for Intergenerational Equity, Youth, Culture and Sport. Glenn Micallef is tasked with developing a strategy to promote intergenerational equity, strengthen the European cultural and sporting model and improve working conditions for artists and cultural professionals. He works under the direction of the Executive Vice-President for People, Skills and Pensions and is supported by the Directorate-General for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport. He also has access to the Joint Research Center for his work on strategic foresight. Micallef brings experience in EU policy, governance and strategic advice as well as knowledge of European politics, law and economics. Most recently, he headed the secretariat of the Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela.
EU-Klimaziel 2040
Europawahlen 2024
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News
Companies promise to invest billions in German startups
Several German business giants promised Tuesday to inject 12 billion euros into the German venture capital ecosystem by 2030, following startups’ calls for better access to local funding.
The pledge from companies including Allianz, Deutsche Bank, and Commerzbank comes a week after Mario Draghi called for more public investment and VC funding for European tech startups in a landmark EU report. Draghi gave Europe a poor report card in the areas of AI, digitalization, and growing small companies; he called for better incentives for angel or seed capital investors, and more integrated procedures for doing business across the EU. “We are killing our small businesses,” Draghi said.
Strengthening the growth capital ecosystem
The issue of financing was front and center on Tuesday at the Startup Germany Summit, a daylong conference in Berlin organized by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. Officials acknowledged the need to make it easier to expand a business in Germany, and signed a pledge to strengthen the growth capital ecosystem.
“We have too much red tape, and you all know the red tape so very well,” Economics Minister Robert Habeck said, adding that the Draghi report is worth reading. “We have to be more daring as a country.”
Many start-ups move to the US
Throughout the startup summit, founders and venture capitalists lamented how difficult it can be for German and European startups to find the financing and support to scale up. And of European startups that successfully grow into large companies, only about half of them are funded by European capital, “and the gap is being plugged by US funds,” said Raluca Ragab, managing director at Eurazeo, a French private equity firm. “Many of these end up re-headquartering in the US. They follow the capital.”
Alexander Langholz-Baikousis, the chief financial officer of Berlin-based Cherry Ventures, said below 20% of his firm’s capital comes from Germany, even though half of its funds go toward German tech companies.
“We would like it to be more,” he said. “That’s a problem specific to Europe. It’s vastly different within the U.S.” J.D. Capeluto
Digitalisierung
Investitionen
Anti-cancer plan: Commission wants more non-smoking zones
The EU Commission is calling for more smoke-free zones to protect people from passive smoking and reduce the number of cancer deaths. “Every year, 700,000 people in the EU lose their lives due to tobacco consumption, including tens of thousands due to passive smoking”, said outgoing Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides. “In a European Health Union, we have a duty to protect our citizens, especially children and young people, from exposure to harmful smoke and emissions.”
Vaping also to be banned
Areas where children and young people spend a lot of time, such as public playgrounds and swimming pools, as well as bus stops and train stations, should therefore remain smoke-free in the future. The bans should therefore apply not only to cigarettes, but also to e-cigarettes and tobacco heaters.
The proposal is intended to promote the de-normalization of tobacco consumption, the Commission announced. As part of the fight against cancer, the EU Commission has set itself the goal of achieving a “tobacco-free generation” by 2040, in which less than five percent of the population smokes. As the member states are primarily responsible for health policy, the EU Commission can only make recommendations for national policies. Its proposals for the expansion of smoke-free zones are not legally binding. dpa
Europäischer Rat
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Must Reads
Heads
Piotr Serafin: Tusk’s confidant takes over key position
Piotr Serafin has been working with Donald Tusk for a long time.
It takes a certain amount of courage to appoint a representative of the largest net beneficiary country as Budget Commissioner. Piotr Serafin will focus on the preparations for the next MFF, said Ursula von der Leyen at the presentation of her team on Tuesday. In order to dispel any reservations in Berlin, the Commission President emphasized that the future Budget Commissioner would report directly to her and be accountable to her. The message is clear: When it comes to money, the Christian Democrat wants to retain control.
Apart from possible reservations in Berlin, the response to the nomination of the 50-year-old has been consistently positive: he welcomes the appointment of Piotr Serafin, reacted Romanian MEP Siegfried Mureșan (EPP). As the future lead negotiator for the MFF, he is looking forward to working together to reform the budget “and reconcile traditional priorities such as cohesion and agriculture with new priorities such as security and competitiveness”.
Mureșan had already emphasized in advance that the Polish candidate had all the prerequisites to work out the next MFF with the member states and the Parliament and to become a successful budget commissioner.
Experts on Polish EU policy
Apart from the fact that Piotr Serafin has never held an executive office, there is little doubt about his qualifications. As a young civil servant, he worked in the authority that promoted Poland’s accession negotiations from 1998 and later its integration into the EU. Later, as Poland’s government representative, he accompanied the negotiations for the budget for the years 2007 to 2013 and was Deputy Head of Cabinet to Janusz Lewandowski, then EU Commissioner for Financial Planning and Budget. From 2014 to 2019, Piotr Serafin was Head of Cabinet to Donald Tusk in his role as President of the European Council. After the change of power in Warsaw, Tusk sent his close companion to Brussels as Poland’s ambassador.
The likely future budget commissioner is therefore very familiar with the Brussels bubble and the EU institutions. According to diplomats, he has quickly established himself as a heavyweight in the powerful Committee of Permanent Representatives. Also because, unlike many representatives of the member states, he does not have to read his instructions from the capital off the page. Not all ambassadors have such a good and direct line to their head of government.
In Brussels, there is nothing but praise for Piotr Serafin. He is seen as sociable, constructive and a man with great social skills. For Donald Tusk, it is a clever move to be able to place his confidant in an important key position. The timing is perfect because the negotiations on the next MFF will not only begin in spring. Poland’s six-month presidency of the EU Council also starts on Jan. 1. sti
