Dan Jørgensen is pleased that the next EU Commission can now begin work on December 1, after the EU Parliament finally gave its approval to the new team of commissioners on Wednesday.
This happened in a surprisingly close vote, where Ursula von der Leyen's new team only received nine votes more than the 361 votes required.
- I have tried to sit on the other side of the table in this process myself, and I know that it is a situation where the EU Parliament is trying to optimize their power vis-à-vis the EU Commission. It is part of the power game in Brussels, and that is fine. Fortunately, it went as planned, and now we are ready to get to work, says Dan Jørgensen.
As EU Commissioner for Energy and Housing, he will be tasked, among other things, with bringing down energy prices and making the EU independent of Russian gas.
- The first task I have to solve is that we in Europe are unfortunately still dependent on Russian gas. Around 15 percent of our gas is imported from Russia. Of course, that is not possible. We have to be completely independent there. And then we must have adopted legislation and initiatives that ensure that we can bring down energy prices, says Dan Jørgensen.
In addition, the Danish EU Commissioner will fight to maintain the green transition in an EU Commission that is noticeably turning to the right.
This must be done, among other things, by focusing on installing more renewable energy and ensuring more efficient use of energy:
- There is no doubt that the green transition is under pressure in many EU countries. But I am very optimistic that we in the EU Commission can actually continue to be quite ambitious, says Dan Jørgensen.
He points out that the EU has already adopted specific climate goals, which must now be met by implementing a number of political proposals.
- It is clear that all legislation must be adopted by the EU Parliament and the member states. So it is not an easy task. We have to fight from door to door. We are ready for that, says Dan Jørgensen.
There has been criticism that Italy's Raffaele Fitto from Giorgia Meloni's party, the Brothers of Italy, will become the leading vice-president of the EU Commission. What do you say to that criticism, and that so many end up voting no to the EU Commission?
- They vote no for different reasons. There are some who do it for domestic political reasons. Others do it because they believe, on principle, that you cannot work with someone who has the political convictions that Fitto has.
- I understand that there may be differences from country to country. However, I do not think that it is right that you do not want to work with Fitto because of the party he comes from. Because it is up to each member state to appoint their EU Commissioner.
- I also think that we from the Danish side would be a bit of a noob if other countries started to interfere in who we sent. It must be up to the governments in the individual countries to decide who they send, says Dan Jørgensen.
Despite the close vote, Dan Jørgensen expects that it will be possible to gather a majority across the middle when the specific legislative proposals in the coming five years are to be adopted.
- Cooperation across the middle also has the positive effect that the compromises will be good and sustainable, he says.
/ritzau/
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