Juncker’s
Parliamentary headache
With
Martin Schulz leaving Brussels, the Commission suddenly faces
stronger headwinds to get its agenda adopted.
By MAÏA DE LA BAUME
AND BJARKE SMITH-MEYER 11/30/16, 5:15 AM CET Updated 11/30/16, 8:17
AM CET
Martin Schulz’s
decision to quit the European Parliament and take his talents to
Berlin last week provoked breathless speculation about his political
future in Germany and that of his Socialist group without him in
Brussels.
There is, however,
one real world impact of Schulz’s departure in January: It is going
to make the Parliament a huge pain where it hurts for the European
Commission and its president, Jean-Claude Juncker.
Though on paper a
conservative who belongs to the European People’s Party, Juncker
has made no secret of the importance of his bromance with the
departing parliamentary chieftain from the other side of the aisle.
Their partnership
the past two years has smoothed the passage of big pieces of the
Commission’s governing agenda, from a multi-billion euro
infrastructure plan to cellular roaming cost cuts. “Martin Schulz
was a facilitator,” said Jean Arthuis, a French member of the
liberal ALDE group and the chairman of the Parliament’s budgetary
control committee. “He would often get in touch with Commission
people, and tell them in a very efficient way what the Parliament
expected from them.”
Schulz delivers a
speech to announce he will step down from his office and return to
national politics next year, on November 24, 2016 in Brussels |
Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images
Schulz delivers a
speech to announce he will step down from his office and return to
national politics next year, on November 24, 2016 in Brussels |
Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images
With Schulz gone and
likely a conservative or economic liberal in his presidential seat,
the Parliament becomes a less predictable and friendly place for
Juncker’s agenda, even if that may seem improbable at first glance.
Parliament sources
say Schulz often pressured MEPs from his own group, the center-left
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), and the
conservative European People’s Party (EPP) to agree to deals made
with the Commission chief.
“It was just a
very practical and effective way to get things done,” said Markus
Ferber, a German member of the EPP, which is in opposition to Schulz.
“Unlike in the last term, there is no natural other coalition.
Neither a center-right coalition around EPP, [European Conservatives
and Reformists] and ALDE nor a center-left coalition around S&D,
Greens and [Confederal Group of the European United Left] are big
enough to safely get things done.”
Absent that Germanic
discipline, and smarting over the loss of their only top job atop a
European institution, S&D are expected to revert to a different
form: fractious, uncooperative and hostile to the priorities of a
Commission in the hands of a rival from the EPP.
“Schulz could
easily weigh in with those MEPs … in the S&D,” said an EPP
official. “He could easily reach out to them and reason with them.
Who is going to do this now?”
“Relations between
the parliament and the Commission have never been as harmonious as
during the first two years of this commission” — Jean-Claude
Juncker
Juncker already
sounded a wistful note in an interview over the weekend with
Belgium’s La Libre Belgique: “I have developed with [Schulz], and
thus with the European parliament, a relation based on collaboration,
cooperation, and complicity,” he said. “Relations between the
parliament and the Commission have never been as harmonious as during
the first two years of this commission.”
On Monday,
Margaritis Schinas, the Commission’s spokesperson, told reporters
that Juncker hoped the new president of the European Parliament would
be “a European who will be as convincing and determined as Martin
Schulz was.”
Juncker’s program,
minus Martin
Only halfway through
his term, Juncker’s Commission has a long list of proposals to push
through the EU machinery. Parliament’s Conference of Presidents,
which includes leaders from all of its political party groups, in
November adopted a list of priorities for 2017 drafted by Schulz,
Juncker and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, whose country holds
the rotating presidency of the EU, to fast-track into law, including
eurozone budget reform, tougher gun restrictions and enhanced
workers’ rights.
Many of Juncker’s
flagship proposals from the first half of his term were developed
with Schulz, particularly the European Fund for Strategic Investment
(EFSI), a €315 billion plan to boost investments in the EU, as well
as the Passenger Name Record, or PNR, which obliges airlines to hand
EU countries their passengers’ data.
The next battles
will be tougher. On the investment fund, there’s growing resistance
to Juncker’s proposal to double the EFSI’s size. “If you take
better regulation seriously, you should make a thorough evaluation
before extending a tool such as the EFSI,” said Ferber, alluding to
Juncker’s “Better Regulation Agenda”.
Schulz and his
cabinet have held weekly meetings with the Economic and Monetary
Affairs Committee hierarchy to keep it up to date on negotiations
with the Commission. In June, the Parliament approved the fund’s
rules by 464 votes to 131 with 19 abstentions. “From the start,
[EFSI talks] mainly went through Juncker and Schulz,” said Dutch
Socialist Paul Tang. “Now that [Schulz] is going, compromises will
be more difficult than before.
“Schulz was very
dominant. If Juncker wants a relationship with the Parliament, he’ll
have to work for it,” Tang said, adding that Juncker will have to
reach out to a wider group of people in Parliament.
Budget, data worries
On the EU budget,
Schulz set up what Arthuis called “concertation meetings” with
group leaders to build a broad majority and settle the budget
proposals for 2014-2020. These majorities allowed him to partner with
the Commission against the European Council of EU member states,
which sought deeper budget cuts. Schulz’s departure from Parliament
could complicate negotiations over the 2020-2026 budget.
In the wake of the
Paris terrorist attacks in 2015 and the migration crisis, Schulz
brought the Socialists on board, in particular, the French, behind
the controversial passenger record rules. “The socialists often
take a very intransigent view on data protection,” said a
Parliament source.
“We had the
impression that the EU was governed by a board of directors led by
Juncker and Schulz” — Jean Arthuis, member of the liberal ALDE
group
The next battle on
data protection is the Commission’s proposed directive to set up a
centralized system to exchange fingerprints of convicted felons from
outside the EU, which proponents say will help in the fight against
terrorism. Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Committee isn’t buying the argument.
“The socialists
and liberals are blocking the proposal because they don’t want this
fingerprints tool,” the EPP source said. “This is where Schulz
could weigh in because he had a handle on these people.”
Some MEPs say they
didn’t like these personal arrangements with the Commission and
hope a new parliamentary leader changes the way the chamber has been
run in the Schulz years.
“We had the
impression that the EU was governed by a board of directors led by
Juncker and Schulz,” Arthuis said. “That had brought too much
resentment and not enough debate in the Parliament.”
Quentin Aries and
Chris Spillane contributed reporting.
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