Simon Harris, the Taoiseach of Ireland, has stated that only one candidate, Michael McGrath, a former finance minister, will be nominated for Ireland’s next European Commissioner appointment. This statement comes irrespective of the anticipated requirement to present a male and female candidate to maintain gender balance.
An essential meeting of the leaders from the remaining 27 EU nations is scheduled to take place shortly in Brussels, where it is expected that Ursula von der Leyen will be given the backing for a second stint as President of the European Commission. Harris, speaking en route to the assembly, expressed confidence in a unanimous support for Ms von der Leyen among the leaders, following which her appointment would need to be approved by most of the MEPs in the EU Parliament.
While it is highly probable that Ms von der Leyen might request two nominees from each country after her expected win in the parliamentary voting in July, Mr Harris confirmed Ireland will stick to its decision of proposing Mr McGrath as their only candidate. The leader of Fine Gael doesn’t envisage this decision impeding Ireland’s chances of securing a significant commission role.
With Ireland seeking a finance-related commission portfolio, Mr Harris anticipates a potential conflict with Ms von der Leyen’s team, particularly if she earns another five-year term. However, he underscored the perk of being among the first nations to declare their proposed appointee and pledged to exploit every chance in the forthcoming days and weeks to persuade for a prominent commission role for Ireland.
“The EU treaties clearly outlined that the choice of nomination for each nation’s EU commissioner is a decision left to the national government,” he expressed. “It’s highly likely that president von der Leyen might suggest that she prefers multiple choices. It is entirely acceptable for her to make such a suggestion, and equally acceptable for the member states to take this into consideration and move forward as they deem appropriate,” he articulated.
“From our perspective as a government, we have already reached a decision – we have chosen to nominate our most experienced political figure, our Finance Minister, and we are not planning on changing this decision,” he stated. “Therefore, in terms of who Ireland’s commissioner will be, the matter is resolved,” Mr Harris announced.
He mentioned that Ms von der Leyen would be interested in constructing “the most effective and potent team” of EU commissioners, and thus the nomination of Mr McGrath is likely to “put us in a advantageous position” when the commission president is distributing portfolios.