“Forget the soothing diplomatic tones from Dublin – justice is a portfolio nobody wanted. Justice means guaranteed (and often personalised) conflict with states such as Hungary and Slovakia. … The reality is that in a decade Ireland has gone from holding agriculture and rural development (a third of the EU budget), to trade (the crown jewel of the EU’s competencies) via financial services (stripped of the important bits) to the thankless task of policing wannabe European dictators under a ‘democracy shield’.”

“The post-fascist has managed to place one of her loyal followers, Raffaele Fitto, in one of the most influential posts in the Commission. He will become vice-president and commissioner for cohesion and reforms. This means he will be responsible for the European Social Fund and a fund for regional development, among other things. Meloni is over the moon about this decision, as it secures her additional power and influence in Brussels. However with this appointment, Ursula von der Leyen has lodged a political time bomb in her own Commission. Many members of the European Parliament are quite rightly appalled and have announced their opposition to the far-right Italian.”

“Teresa Ribera will be a sort of super commissioner with significant influence on European industrial policy. She will apply the antitrust rules and oversee state aid and mergers. This is a key position and will make Spain one of the EU’s main partners. … In her new term in office, von der Leyen has announced that she is reserving the right to change the structure of the Commission. And she has appointed 40 percent women to the top of the commissions. Although this falls short of the strict parity she had hoped for, she has nevertheless almost doubled the pitiful 22 percent that would have resulted from the governments’ proposals.”

Some of the big European newspapers cover the latest from the EU as European Commissioner Von der Leyen has unveiled her new EU executive team that will help the bloc in facing challenges including wars in Gaza and Ukraine, migration, climate change, and economic competitiveness.

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