New European Commission Approved - Two Commissioners For Energy and Climate

Today the new European Commission 2019-2024 has finally been voted into office by the European Parliament. Parliament voted on the von der Leyen Commission and approved it by 461 votes to 157 against, with 89 abstentions. Earlier, the European Parliament only gave its approval of 23 of the 26 candidates in a first round of hearings. It rejected Rovana Plumb, Laszlo Trocsanyi and Sylvie Goulard. The Member States Romania, Hungary and France had to nominate new candidates, accordingly and parliament accepted these only after a second round of hearings. Today`s  vote means that the five-year term of the Commission can reasonably be expected to begin on 1 December, although the new Commission still needs to be formally appointed by EU heads of state or government. The UK abstained from nominating a Commissioner, given the pending Brexit. Energy and Climate matters are represented in the new Commission by two people: Kadri Simson from Estonia is the new Commissioner for Energy. She will have to work on these issues with Frans Timmermans from the Netherlands, who is one of the three Executive Vice-Presidents of the Commission. He is responsible for the cross-cutting portfolio `European Green Deal´.

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