Pedro Sánchez is studying to propose Teresa Ribera as head of the PSOE list in the elections to the European Parliament on June 9, a position from which he could then make the step to the European Commission with the aim of occupying a portfolio related to climate and energy. The solid journey of the vice-president for the Energy Transition in this area would allow the central government to lead the defense of these policies in the next European legislature, in which the political focus will be on military spending and security, while on a scale national, in the campaign, exploits the confrontation with the climate ambiguity of the PP and the denialism of Vox.
Teresa Ribera (Madrid, 1969) was the first candidate that the president had in mind to assume the two responsibilities, to be head of the European list and to occupy Spain’s place in the European Commission, but initially she alleged that he would prefer to remain part of the central government, a reaction that led Sánchez and the PSOE to explore other options among party figures with a European background, such as the current Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, and Josep Borrell, the head of European diplomacy, who has said publicly that he cannot leave his position early in the current circumstances, a reaction that has once again put all eyes on Ribera.
So, both Sánchez and the PSOE have returned to the starting point and to the conclusion that Ribera is the best possible candidate. “Now there is no talk of other possible options”, point out sources close to the talks. Ribera, they add, “embodies the leadership in climate action that the president has committed to since he came to the Spanish Government” and that is seen as a factor of prosperity and competitiveness. It is not in the hands of Sánchez which portfolio will be assigned to Spain in the next Commission (the decision will depend on the results of the European elections and who presides), but in his opinion this bet is even “more important” at a time when the advance of conservative forces and the far right calls into question the future of the green agenda.
“Changing the paradigm of many decades is not something that can be resolved in a single mandate. The Von der Leyen commission has made a lot of progress in the right direction, but this cannot be resolved in five years or ten, this process of change must be consolidated”, Ribera defended on Friday in Brussels, who does not believe that “it is written” that these policies will be avoided during the next legislature. “Another thing is that we need to pay much more attention to groups that may be threatened by such important changes in such a short time”, claimed the vice-president, who for the first time revealed an interest in landing in European politics.
“The decisions about who will head the list or how the Government of Spain will be represented in the European Commission transcend me”, but “working in Spain is working in Europe, and in one place or another I will be happy”, she said afterwards to declare herself a “convinced Europeanist”. “In this campaign I see myself as an important asset of my Government and my party”, he said. “Fortunately, there are many people in very solvent conditions” to do this work.
Regarding these statements, the President of the Spanish Government defined Ribera as “a woman who has the capabilities to be able to achieve everything she sets her mind to”, in addition to being “a reference on a national, international and multilateral scale” on climate change, said Sánchez, who also highlighted the ability to generate consensus and reach agreements that, in his opinion, the vice-president has demonstrated during her five years in the Executive. “All the proposals he has made at national and European level have gone ahead and have been good for the citizens as a whole”, he remarked at a press conference in Dublin.
Socialist sources criticize, however, the “indecision” on the European list and even speak of “irresponsibility”. The profile of the vice-president fits in any case the approach that the PSOE plans to give to this campaign to denounce the alliances between the PP and Vox and to present itself as the bulwark of the far-right, as in the legislative 2023. The announcement of Ribera’s candidacy to head the list of the PSOE in the European elections is imminent, but it will not be made before the Basque elections on Sunday, reports Juan Carlos Merino. The party will approve the European lists at the meeting of the federal committee on April 27.
With only 55 days left until the European elections, the Popular Party has not yet decided who will be the head of the list, whether it will be Dolors Montserrat again or whether it will bet, as it proposed a few months ago in a gesture towards the countryside, for the former Minister of Agriculture Isabel García Tejerina. The bases of Podemos, for their part, already endorsed in February that the candidacy for the European Parliament will be headed by Irene Moreno, while Yolanda Díaz has proposed that Estrella Galán, until now director general of the Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid , will be head of Sumar’s list while the coalition formations define their respective candidates according to the previously agreed starting positions.
