European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders will take over the Competition portfolio, after von der Leyen granted Margrethe Vestager unpaid leave to focus on her European Investment Bank candidacy.
In a statement, the European Commission announced that, after the departure of the executive vice president, the president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, handed over the Competition portfolio to Didier Reynders, who accumulates the Justice portfolio.
Margrethe Vestager was also responsible for preparing the European Union (EU) for the digital age and von der Leyen decided to assign her to Vice President Vera Jourová, responsible for Values and Transparency.
The Innovation and Research portfolio, which Vestager had temporarily accumulated after the departure of Mariya Gabriel and until the succession is chosen, now goes to vice president Margaritis Schinas, responsible for promoting the European way of life.
The Commission has also informed the European Parliament and the European Council of the amendments to the von der Leyen executive.
The executive vice-president of the European Commission responsible for the portfolio of a Europe ready for the digital age and for competition announced this Tuesday, on Twitter, that she will take a leave of absence without pay to focus her efforts on her candidacy for the European Investment Council. . Bank (EIB): “As of today I am officially a candidate for the presidency of the EIB, so I will be taking an unpaid leave from the European Commission to focus on the candidacy.”
The announcement of this leave without pay, to focus on his candidacy for public office, comes a day after Vestager’s parliamentary group in the European Parliament expressed its support for this competitor.
In addition to Vestager, Nadia Calviño, Vice President and Minister of Economic Affairs, is running for the position.
It is now up to EU finance ministers – including Portugal’s Fernando Medina – to reach a consensus on a name at an informal meeting in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, in mid-September.
The aim is to elect someone to take over when current EIB President Werner Hoyer resigns at the end of the year.
The EIB is the EU financial institution that financially supports projects inside and outside the EU area in accordance with European priorities. It is owned by the member states and its Board of Governors consists of the finance ministers of the 27.
Source: TSF
