Ireland’s nominee for the country’s next EU commissioner, Michael McGrath, was interviewed by Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday, as the European Commission president weighs up what portfolios to hand out to commissioners.
An announcement on what portfolios will be given to commissioners put forward by each EU country is expected in the second week of September. The German politician has been meeting commissioner nominees one by one from the first half of this week.
Ireland has said it is interested in a finance-related role for Mr McGrath, who stepped down as minister for finance earlier this year to take on the EU job.
However, the Government’s chances of securing a powerful commission position have been seriously dented by several factors. Ireland was one of the first countries to formally nominate its candidate for commissioner, without consulting with the commission president on who they planned to put forward.
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The Government ignored a request from Ms von der Leyen for countries to propose two names, with at least one being a woman so she could build a gender-balanced team of commissioners.
Fianna Fáil’s four MEPs also voted against Ms von der Leyen in a European Parliament vote that confirmed her reappointment as president of the EU’s executive arm for another five years.
In a statement, Mr McGrath said he felt the meeting with Ms von der Leyen this week “went well”. The Fianna Fáil politician said the pair had a “good discussion about the major challenges facing the EU over the next five years.”
The meeting took place in the commission offices in the Berlaymont building in Brussels. Mr McGrath said during the meeting he set out what contribution he believed he could make as a commissioner.
“I acknowledged the difficult task she has in considering all the competing demands when forming her Commission, and I assured her I would play a positive and constructive role as a member of her team, subject of course to the ratification process that lies ahead,” he said.
Speaking earlier in Brussels on Thursday, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said Mr McGrath had been a “high calibre” nominee to put forward as Ireland’s next commissioner.
The Fianna Fáil leader said there had been “no back and forth at a substantive level” with Ms von der Leyen on the Government’s pick before the Cabinet agreed to nominate Mr McGrath in June.
“I think it was similar in the case of Phil Hogan, when he would have been nominated originally, there wouldn’t have been a back and forth before that I’m informed,” Mr Martin said.
The details of the Coalition agreement, that Fianna Fáil would pick who to nominate for the EU role this time around, would have been flagged with Ms von der Leyen, he said.
“The Government’s view is we have put forward a very strong nominee in the form of a minister for finance, with considerable executive experience, as minister for public expenditure before that,” he said.
Mr Martin said he did not believe Ms von der Leyen would seek to punish Ireland when she decided what commission portfolio to allocate to Mr McGrath.
EU countries have until Friday to submit their nominees for commissioner, with three countries still to announce their decision.
Ms von der Leyen is continuing to interview the remaining candidates over the coming days, as she weighs up how to divvy out portfolios. A large number of other countries have also signalled their interest in securing a finance-related commissioner role.
The nominated commissioners will then need to be confirmed in their roles by the European Parliament, with hearings expected to take place in October.
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