Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

The Commission President's decision has been classified to everyone but her small team of advisors. Alamy Stock Photo

Von der Leyen delays announcement of new Commission portfolios until next week

Formal approval processes have yet to take place in Slovenia, buying Ursula von der Leyen some time to cross the ts and dot the is.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF which portfolio Michael McGrath was offered in the new European Commission, set to be unveiled today, has been postponed until next week by the institution.

A spokesperson said yesterday that the delay is as a result of processes by the Slovenian Parliament, which has still yet to formally approve its Government’s nominee. 

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is under pressure to get her new College of Commissioners organised and give relevant portfolios to those who have been nominated.

It’s understood that the Government is hopeful Ireland will retain some type of financial portfolio but von der Leyen’s decision has been classified to everyone but her small team of advisors. 

Today announcement was meant to present the new Commission to the most senior MEPs in the European Parliament in Brussels. This was to give the chairpeople of each political grouping time to decide whether their party will agree with her proposal.

MEPs will vote on whether to approve or reject the Commission President’s proposal in Strasbourg, France next week, but processes in Slovenia have delayed the process.

Yesterday, a spokesperson for the European Commission said that the Slovenian parliament had contacted the institution asking that von der Leyen delay her announcement so its politicians could formally approve the Government’s nominee.

Another spokesperson for the European Parliament confirmed the presentation was postponed until 17 September. The vote in Slovenia is due to take place on Friday.

The spokesperson added that amendments will be made to the agenda of next week’s formal sitting of the European Parliament to allow MEPs to debate their decision.

So far, it has been reported that only the Socialists and Democrats group, of which Dublin’s Labour MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin is a member of, are unhappy with the current nominees as only four members of its grouping have been named as candidates for roles.

It is still largely expected that MEPs will vote in favour of von der Leyen’s proposed Commission next week.

Parliamentary committees will then publicly interview the candidates, create a report based on their performance and vote again in November to confirm the new Commission.

Commissioners are set to begin in their new roles sometime in December, if all is approved.

However, von der Leyen is understood to be having a difficult time assigning some portfolios, particularly for the new Defence Commissioner role, and to also achieve a gender balance in her new College.

The Commission President made gender balance a crucial element of her new Commission, requesting that every member states nominate both a man and a woman in July.

Only one member state followed the request, as most Governments argued that the Commission President was overstepping her authority when making it under the EU treaties.

The Irish Government chose to nominate former finance minister Michael McGrath only, for the same reason as other member states and later added that naming a second candidate would be unfair to McGrath since he had to leave a role as a Cabinet minister.

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
11 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute onlybuzzinwitcha
    Favourite onlybuzzinwitcha
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 1:52 AM

    DIT – The city is our campus…….HA

    273
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David O Brien
    Favourite David O Brien
    Report
    Sep 15th 2013, 2:35 AM

    The Edge studied in DIT. Kevin street for a while – then go a better offer

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ciara McArdle
    Favourite Ciara McArdle
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 3:10 PM

    Samuel Beckett did not describe Trinity students as ‘rich and thick.’ He in fact said that in response to a reprimand by the Head Master at Campbell College in Belfast who told him he was teaching “the cream of Ulster.”
    “Yes,” replied Beckett, ‘rich and thick.”

    152
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brian
    Favourite Brian
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 1:07 AM

    TheDublinJournal.ie

    150
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Conor McGuinness
    Favourite Conor McGuinness
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 9:06 AM

    Not defending trinners or anything, but Russian-English Dictionaries of Diplomacy have probably been very handy this last week.

    UCD is like Fianna Fáil.. It skilfully combines the rural gombeen with the south Dublin jackeen. Accent and appearance aside they’re pretty much the same thing.

    146
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alan Lawlor
    Favourite Alan Lawlor
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 6:17 PM

    “Oh my gawd, Fintan. They have compoiled an article in thejourno which bundles us Trinners with the loikes of UCD. Even worse, they mention the college the girl you met last week was from when you really decided to rough it – was that DCU or DIT?”

    50
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ThomasFrancisMeagher
    Favourite ThomasFrancisMeagher
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 10:27 AM

    A report last year showed that the colleges with the highest % in employment 6 months after graduation were UL & WIT so take that Dublin.

    129
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Niall McCarthy
    Favourite Niall McCarthy
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 12:24 PM

    Tesco check-out doesn’t count.

    292
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Liam MacSuibhne
    Favourite Liam MacSuibhne
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 4:16 PM

    A fact they don’t like to face up to. I went to UL for my degree and did my h.dip in UCD. I was honestly gob smacked at people in Dublin telling what ‘an amazing’ campus UCD has. It is, by comparison with UL, ugly, insufficient and out dated. Also, the standard of lecturing and organisation left a lot to be desired. The academic standard in UL was very competitive, more along the lines of the ethos of the old RTCs, which was a really healthy thing.

    Maybe UL has an advantage as it secured a lot of private funding over the last 25-30 years, especially from Irish-Americans. However, that’s down to their own hard work and genius. No offense to UCD, but it simply doesn’t compare in most facets.

    82
    See 5 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Niall McCarthy
    Favourite Niall McCarthy
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 4:31 PM

    TCD 61st in the world, UCD 139th….UL 451-500. Bit you’re right, UL is pretty.

    94
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Liam MacSuibhne
    Favourite Liam MacSuibhne
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 4:51 PM

    I’m afraid it’s about more than being pretty, which UL certainly is. UCD focuses hugely, probably disproportionally, on publications of papers and this is one of the core criteria of QS ranking of universities. This was an expressed opinion of a h.dip supervisor from UCD I spoke to a couple of years back. It’s a financial strategy more than an educational aim. And that is the problem with UCD. Maybe that clarifies it somewhat for you. My experience of both was vastly different. All institutions have their problems, but UL seems to have a very clear, structural development alongside very high academic standards. Sorry if it that doesn’t sit well with your assumptions .

    41
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Niall McCarthy
    Favourite Niall McCarthy
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 5:02 PM

    I spent a year in UL, left because of those much-vaunted standards you speak of. I don’t see how having a staff that focus primarily on the publication of research is a negative, but then again an institution like UL with a local/regional outlook really can’t be compared to national and international institutions like TCD and UCD.

    26
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Conor
    Favourite Conor
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 5:47 PM

    UL and WIT may have higher employment rates at first because they teach fairly specific degrees which can be directly applied to the job market.

    The NUIs and Trin teach broader degrees across a wider spectrum of fields which can’t in many cases be directly applied to the Irish job market. This is why there is a difference.

    42
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Len Raynor
    Favourite Len Raynor
    Report
    Sep 15th 2013, 12:25 AM

    Source please?

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stephen Doyle
    Favourite Stephen Doyle
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 6:32 PM

    Adverts.ie should stick to advertising unwanted sofas and not writing “funny” articles. That was cack

    93
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Liz Burke
    Favourite Liz Burke
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 11:07 AM

    The Ugg Boot winner in BESS in Trinners by a long shot, DBS a mere runner up

    86
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Producer
    Favourite Producer
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 12:15 AM

    In a way we all have a Doctor of something in life, be it a father a mother a hard working grafter, or just even in a simple dog walker.

    75
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Maria Pearse
    Favourite Maria Pearse
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 1:27 AM

    What?

    242
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pádraig O'hEidhin
    Favourite Pádraig O'hEidhin
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 6:53 AM

    A love doctor maybe?

    51
    See 4 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Montys Moonshine
    Favourite Montys Moonshine
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 8:21 AM

    Definitely a trinity head

    113
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stephen Doyle
    Favourite Stephen Doyle
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 6:28 PM

    Think your doctor is looking for you, it’s happy pill time

    38
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mark
    Favourite Mark
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 6:58 PM

    DAFUQ you on about lad?!

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute JurassicArse
    Favourite JurassicArse
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 8:44 PM

    Shut your hole

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Johnson Kcco
    Favourite John Johnson Kcco
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 9:04 AM

    Learnt all I needed to learn in the bestest collage in ireland. Mount Joy.

    74
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rob Mackey
    Favourite Rob Mackey
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 12:28 PM

    bestest ? im dubious bruv

    49
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rob Hunt
    Favourite Rob Hunt
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 2:27 PM

    Also collage.

    38
    See 3 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rehabmeerkat
    Favourite Rehabmeerkat
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 7:49 PM

    Mountjoy is one word…

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Daniel Wilson
    Favourite Daniel Wilson
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 10:38 PM

    * I learned

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute censored
    Favourite censored
    Report
    Sep 15th 2013, 2:20 AM

    He’s a collage artiste for chrissake, stop taking him to task on his grammar.

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Niamh Ní Fhoghlú
    Favourite Niamh Ní Fhoghlú
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 12:42 AM

    NCI – NOT a COMPLETE INSTITUTE

    72
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Karen NíDhochartaigh
    Favourite Karen NíDhochartaigh
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 10:36 AM

    Sounds about right. Just hope its inproved sunce my day

    26
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mari Madigan
    Favourite Mari Madigan
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 10:47 AM

    Conor if only I’d remembered dublin jackeen when I called my brother’s new girlfriend a dublin jackass….haunts me to this day

    62
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David Gazeley
    Favourite David Gazeley
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 9:47 AM

    I am going to ucd and as a lad who lived out in the countryside all my life,it was a big change

    57
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rob Hunt
    Favourite Rob Hunt
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 2:27 PM

    Indoor toilets took a while to get used to?

    177
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michal Boleslav Měchura
    Favourite Michal Boleslav Měchura
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 1:33 PM

    Since when is Russian “obscure and ultimately useless”!?

    52
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Luca Costa
    Favourite Luca Costa
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 7:34 PM

    Since the 80s

    54
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alan Lawlor
    Favourite Alan Lawlor
    Report
    Sep 15th 2013, 8:51 AM

    Russian: Spoken and used by over 200 million people as a first language
    Irish: As a first language : less than 100, 000

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Garreth Fitzpatrick-Pothin
    Favourite Garreth Fitzpatrick-Pothin
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 9:16 AM

    I know it isn’t true but when I was younger we used to joke that if you weren’t in an NUI you graduated with a hard-hat, a box of crayons and the keys to a hiace!!! Friendly banter is brilliant!

    40
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paddy Reid
    Favourite Paddy Reid
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 12:49 AM

    Eh…Griffith. Worth a mention? Thanks a bunch :P

    38
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rob Hunt
    Favourite Rob Hunt
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 2:28 PM

    Griffith’s Private, the others on the list aren’t.

    46
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Conor
    Favourite Conor
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 3:31 PM

    Pretty sure Griffith sums up Rich and Thick a lot better than Trinity.

    100
    See 3 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paddy Reid
    Favourite Paddy Reid
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 5:21 PM

    DBS is private.

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Neil O'Leary
    Favourite Neil O'Leary
    Report
    Sep 15th 2013, 1:09 AM

    It was a good while ago when I did the leaving, but that year was the first year DBS were included in the CAO system. Griffith to my knowledge is not. So if that’s still the case, it’s at least part-public, so to speak.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Conor
    Favourite Conor
    Report
    Sep 15th 2013, 3:36 AM

    They’re all included on the CAO these says, however no matter what you get you can still but yourself in regardless of points anyways.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Conor Bredin
    Favourite Conor Bredin
    Report
    Sep 15th 2013, 4:44 AM

    No grá for St Pats? It’s a small college but jaysus Coppers would go out of business if it weren’t for it!

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Chris Dunne
    Favourite Chris Dunne
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 5:21 PM

    I srarted in trinity last week as a mature student and I was completely overwhelmed by the place

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ping Pong
    Favourite Ping Pong
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 2:19 AM

    The towel flickers! South side homos just don’t get it

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James Keane
    Favourite James Keane
    Report
    Sep 15th 2013, 8:30 AM

    The article was both terrible and offensive in equal measure. Consolidates my view never to read these sponsored stories…curiosity got the better of me this time.

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jason Weir
    Favourite Jason Weir
    Report
    Sep 15th 2013, 12:17 AM

    dire article cut and paste gone down the jacks

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Evans
    Favourite Michael Evans
    Report
    Sep 15th 2013, 6:54 AM

    Get a job! Load of bums won’t be ready to start working until they’re 35 years old.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute nicole
    Favourite nicole
    Report
    Sep 14th 2013, 1:30 AM

    Go IAU – best college in Dublin :)

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Julie O'Connell
    Favourite Julie O'Connell
    Report
    Sep 15th 2013, 1:46 AM

    ITB – Forever dodging the clampers!

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Liz (10) (^_^)
    Favourite Liz (10) (^_^)
    Report
    Sep 15th 2013, 8:55 PM

    St Patrick’s College Carlow all the way lads. Not much to do in the town though.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Keith Gaule
    Favourite Keith Gaule
    Report
    Sep 16th 2013, 11:08 AM

    That’s predominantly a priest’s college … Carlow has a pretty big IT, where you won’t find Dub 4 knob-ends guffawing about the “Lass” they ‘snogged’ in Coppers, like .. ya … Also there’s tonnes to do in Carlow town. Did you ever leave the college grounds??

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jim Healy
    Favourite Jim Healy
    Report
    Sep 16th 2013, 9:51 AM

    This song probably sums up the NCAD stereotype:

    https://soundcloud.com/bennysmiles/ncad-girl-day-draft-benny

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds