Was it a “shit show” or a “troll show”?
By EU confirmation hearing standards, it was both … and more.
Groans, moans, applause, scolding. It was more open-mic night than august debate. And at the center of it all was Teresa Ribera, the climate specialist tapped to be perhaps the EU’s second most powerful figure after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
In theory, Ribera was there to prove her policy chops to oversee a vast climate-meets-economy portfolio. Those discussions did happen, but they were obscured by a layer of acerbic, at times personal attacks.
The inciting factor: the deadly floods that recently swept through Spain’s Valencia region, killing hundreds. The finger-pointing in Spain is feverish right now, and Ribera is taking political heat as the country’s ecological transition minister.
There was shouting and accusations that Ribera belonged in “court,” but we’ll get to all that.
More broadly, the Spanish dissension seeded a partisan atmosphere not typically seen in these EU commissioner hearings. Intermittent applause at some points resembled dueling groups of fans in a stadium.
Perhaps, said Dutch Socialists and Democrats MEP Mohammed Chahim, this is the “new style of this house.”
On policy, however, Ribera held her own, refusing to be baited or to lose her cool. The Socialist official mostly stuck to the script and was, predictably, well-versed on climate issues. And while she stumbled somewhat on some competition policy specifics — not an area of prior expertise for her — she clearly had done her reading.
Here are our five takeaways from Ribera’s knife fight hearing.
1. Spanish MEPs tried to turn Brussels into Madrid; Ribera sent them packing.
A tense back-and-forth over the devastating flash floods in Spain dominated the hearing.
Spanish European People’s Party members have been trying to blame Ribera for the disaster in an attempt to shift attention from center-right Regional President Carlos Mazón, who is under pressure to resign for his botched handling of the crisis.
According to Spanish law, regional authorities are responsible for emergency management, but center-right MEPs teamed up with members of the far-right Patriots group to try to pin responsibility for the tragedy on Ribera.
Their repeated mentions of the affair exasperated lawmakers from other countries who were eager to discuss topics relevant to the commissioner-designate’s portfolio.
Ribera, for her part, said domestic matters should be discussed in domestic forums, and committed to answering questions in the Spanish parliament next week.
2. Partisan warfare turned the Parliament into an unruly stadium
The EPP, the Parliament’s largest group, appeared comfortable following the lead of its more radical Spanish delegation, and didn’t shy from asking Ribera about her connection to the Valencia tragedy.
MEP assistants linked to the group packed into the room and enthusiastically applauded when their bosses lobbed particularly barbed questions, contributing to a tense atmosphere.
The climate skepticism and nastiness of some of the comments meant it was occasionally difficult to tell the center-right lawmakers apart from their counterparts in the far-right Patriots group, who urged the right wing to unite against Ribera.
While some of the more reserved MEPs merely tut-tutted at the indecorous behavior, many left-leaning lawmakers began to clap back at their ideological opponents and applaud Ribera’s responses.
By the end, the hearing room resembled a boisterous stadium or, as one German Green lawmaker described it, “eine wahnsinnige Shitshow” (an insane shit-show).
Ribera remained calm throughout, leading one observer to quip that anyone able to keep their cool in that environment could be trusted to go head-to-head with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
3. Climate policy absent but affirmed
Ribera talked at length about the EU’s need to do more, not less, on climate change, rebuking climate deniers in the audience.
She pushed for accelerating the green transition and improving the bloc’s ability to deal with the extreme flooding and droughts that are becoming more common.
In doing so, Ribera came across as a strong defender of the European Green Deal, insisting on the need to implement and enforce existing legislation on the matter.
When an MEP exclaimed that the EU doesn’t need another Frans Timmermans (the EU’s Green Deal architect), Ribera retorted: “I am not Frans Timmermans, I am Teresa Ribera.”
Ribera didn’t commit to pushing many new initiatives of her own, nor did she provide detailed timelines. And she barely touched on numerous initiatives she will help draft as commissioner — but, in fairness, MEPs didn’t really press her on them.
Ribera also didn’t offer many specifics about the highly anticipated Clean Industrial Deal, which she has vowed to produce within her first 100 days. Again, though, barely anyone asked about it.
Similarly, the Circular Economy Act didn’t get much attention. Ribera merely observed that a market for circular and bio-based products doesn’t yet exist and that building one should be a priority.
4. Ribera has now studied competition policy, but more reading lies ahead
Ribera did not astonish the competition policy wonks listening in to see what was in store for them.
She did, however, do her homework — perhaps too thoroughly. Ribera’s competition answers were definitely more repetitive and impersonal than her climate responses. At times she even faltered on some of the more arcane details.
Her answers were relatively clipped on how she would police the digital market and create larger European companies. But she lit up on questions about state aid and — wait for it — Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs, a program that aims to direct EU support to strategic sectors like microchips and batteries).
In short, Ribera faces a steep learning curve on competition policy, but she seemed to have no shortage of motivation and stressed that she would rely on those around her.
“Competition is absolutely key,” she said in one of her answers, batting away criticism of her lack of competition knowledge. “We count on a great team.”
She drove the point home: “This is a commitment and this is what I will try to do.”
5. Ribera didn’t give nuke lovers what they wanted
It’s fair to say that pro-nuclear MEPs didn’t get what they came for. Atomic energy supporters, led by Renew MEP Christophe Grudler, had hoped to extract concessions from Ribera on financing nuclear energy. They left empty-handed.
At first, the Spanish Socialist said she would respect “each member state’s decision on how to organize their own energy mix,” including those who choose nuclear.
That’s more than she wrote in her written comments to MEPs ahead of the hearing, but it’s also what Ribera is bound to do under EU law, which gives member states precisely that right.
When Ribera was then asked (twice) specifically about financing new nuclear plants, she didn’t budge. Questioned about whether she would support further state aid for new nuclear plants, just months after the outgoing European Commission approved similar measures for the Dukovany power plant in Czechia, she simply stated that “each single case should be assessed” on a case-by-case basis.
When Grudler, the Renew MEP, followed up, she went over her allotted time answering another one of his questions, which left her no time to address the nuclear issue.
