Fitto fails fitness test, final decision postponed
Hearings of Executive Vice-Presidents designate
Today, the Greens/EFA Group participated in the hearing of Commissioner designate Raffaele Fitto. His lack of commitment to the Green Deal and his refusal to acknowledge his past voting behavior failed to convince Greens/EFA MEPs. REGI Committee coordinators could not find a majority to approve his nomination and so the final decision has been postponed.
MEP Bas Eickhout, Greens/EFA Co-President, comments:
“We expect every Commissioner to uphold the values of the European Union, including the protection of democracy and fundamental rights. Raffaele Fitto has demonstrated time and again, through his far-right political affiliation, that he does not uphold these values and does not have the best interest of the European Union and its citizens at heart. This makes him unfit to represent the Commission in such a prominent role as is the Executive Vice President.
“Any attempts by the EPP to delay the confirmations of qualified Commissioners-designate like Teresa Ribera and Stephane Séjourné as retaliation for Fitto will mean that the EPP will be responsible for delaying the confirmation of the college as a whole, solely to confirm a far right candidate who is unfit to represent the Commission as its Executive Vice President.”
MEP Terry Reintke, Greens/EFA Co-President, comments:
“Raffaele Fitto is not fit to represent the Commission as Executive Vice-President. His lack of interest in the Green Deal shows he is also not the most fitting choice to work on the Fisheries, Transport or Agricultural committees. Under his leadership, the roll out of the Recovery and Resilience Fund at national level was heavily criticized.
“The democratic part of this house needs to be united in the push against the normalization of the far-right. The EPP risks creating a lot of long-lasting bad blood if they insist on pushing through the nomination of Fitto against the wishes of the other democratic forces.”
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