The vice-president of the European Commission with responsibility for the EU Green Deal has officially resigned in order to run in a general election in his native Netherlands.
Frans Timmermans indicated in July that he wanted to run in the Dutch general election in November, as part of an alliance between the country’s Labour Party and ‘green’ parties.
Yesterday (Tuesday, August 22), it was confirmed that Timmermans has made his departure from the commission official, by submitting his resignation to commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
President von der Leyen expressed her gratitude to Timmermans “for his many years of successful work for the commission and European citizens”.
Timmermans’ resignation takes effect immediately.
President von der Leyen confirmed that the role of commission vice-president for the European Green Deal will be taken over by Maros Sefcovic, the Slovakian politician who, until now, has been commission vice-president for interinstitutional relations.
Vice-president Sefcovic is most well known publicly for his involvement in Brexit-related negotiations with the UK.
As well as being a commission vice-president, Timmermans wore another hat as commissioner for climate action. President Von der Leyen confirmed that this role will be assigned to Sefcovic as well, at least until another Dutch nominee is appointed to the commission to replace Timmermans.
The commission president has written to the current Dutch government to request a new commission nominee from the country.
In welcoming Sefcovic into the new role, President von der Leyen said: “The implementation of the European Green Deal requires an even more intensive dialogue with industry, and key stakeholders like forest owners, farmers, as well as citizens.”
EU Nature Restoration Law
In his time as a member of the European Commission, Timmermans was a key driving force behind the the controversial EU Nature Restoration Law.
However, in backing the law, he came in for criticism, most notably from the largest party in the European Parliament, the European People’s Party (EPP).
In June, the party claimed that the commission was providing resources for businesses to contact MEPs to lobby for the proposed law to be passed in the European Parliament’s committees.
According to the EPP, the commission “completely overstepped its normal role” by, as the group claimed, trying to influence how MEPs should vote.
The group singled out Timmermans specifically, claiming that he had held meetings with some EPP MEPs and told them that, if the party did not back the restoration law, other legislative proposals the EPP deems important may not be forthcoming from the commission.
Under EU Law, the only legislative role of the European Commission is to propose legislation, following which the Council of the EU (also known as the council of ministers) and the parliament separately adopt positions before negotiating with each other on the final legislative text to be adopted across the EU.