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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.

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11 Comments
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    Mute Stiles
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    Nov 15th 2024, 3:33 PM

    I wudnt send mcentee for a bag of chips, she’d make a bollix of it..

    325
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    Mute Buster Lawless
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    Nov 15th 2024, 4:03 PM

    @Stiles: if she legalised drugs first then opened the clubs later, would make more sense.

    24
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    Mute Pork Hunt
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    Nov 15th 2024, 4:17 PM

    @Buster Lawless: what drugs ?

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    Mute David Glynn
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    Nov 15th 2024, 4:23 PM

    @Stiles: are they not all closed bar coppers

    9
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    Mute Tim Brennan
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    Nov 15th 2024, 11:14 PM

    @Stiles: Chips

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    Mute Brian D'Arcy
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    Nov 15th 2024, 3:35 PM

    Promising a previous promise ha ha, that’ll solve everything.

    226
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    Mute Jerry LeFrog
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    Nov 15th 2024, 4:32 PM

    @Brian D’Arcy: and of course she’d promise this and the moon. Should have been expected.
    That will give her party 5 more years to cook up excuses to explain why they did not deliver on any of their promises when the next bout of elections comes round the corner.

    176
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    Mute F1rYnpWc
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    Nov 15th 2024, 3:52 PM

    Who was the party who brought in early closure of nightclubs in the first place?

    181
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    Mute John Doe
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    Nov 15th 2024, 4:06 PM

    @F1rYnpWc: FF did in 2008. Why can’t you people google this basic info?

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    Mute Tired Jim
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    Nov 15th 2024, 4:14 PM

    @F1rYnpWc: Fianna Fail, they also closed the off licences at 10pm under then justice minister Dermot Ahern, becausewe weredrinkingtoo much. Always good to have a bit of knowledge before discussing things

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    Mute Jerry LeFrog
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    Nov 15th 2024, 4:35 PM

    @Tired Jim: oh, thanks Jim for an intelligent comment (genuine appreciation).
    Always good to (re)learn things when they are factually said [thumps up]

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    Mute Tired Jim
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    Nov 15th 2024, 4:40 PM

    @Jerry LeFrog: you are more than welcome, anytime

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    Mute Brian Hunt
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    Nov 15th 2024, 6:10 PM

    @Tired Jim: Did his measures work Tim?

    33
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    Mute Brian Hunt
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    Nov 15th 2024, 6:10 PM

    @Brian Hunt: Jim

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    Mute Tired Jim
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    Nov 15th 2024, 6:14 PM

    @Brian Hunt: no, people just bought in bulk lol

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    Mute Oh Mammy
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    Nov 15th 2024, 3:52 PM

    What could go wrong?

    151
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    Mute giles wolohan
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    Nov 15th 2024, 4:28 PM

    Sure the rest of Europe is giving up on all hours open even spain nightclubs close at 4am.our government tries to do stuff axse ways

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    Mute John Moore
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    Nov 16th 2024, 11:50 AM

    @giles wolohan: No they don’t. Where do people get this stuff from? We are a complete outlier in Europe closing way earlier than anywhere else. 2:30am. I am out quite regularly and tourists etc. don’t believe you when you tell them that’s a wrap. FG backbenchers saying there is no demand. Then what’s the problem? If there’s no demand premises just won’t stay open any longer. And also how would they know? When is the last time any of them were out in the city centre at the weekend?

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    Mute Michale Kane
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    Nov 15th 2024, 4:02 PM

    I pinky-swear I’ll do it this time.

    159
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    Mute Tim Brennan
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    Nov 15th 2024, 3:44 PM

    This is shortly one very poor minister. She has become extremely touchy and narky during this campaign a sign of someone completely out of their depth.

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    Mute Concerned Driver
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    Nov 15th 2024, 4:37 PM

    Yea right ….

    137
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    Mute FlipBip
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    Nov 15th 2024, 3:53 PM

    With a few strokes of a pen, they can sign legislation, practically overnight, to keep you within 5km of your home, ban you from visiting your family, “cancel” Christmas and ban minorities (unvaxxed) from pubs and restaurants. Remember that. They can do a lot. But they don’t do it.

    142
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    Mute Patrick Perill
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    Nov 15th 2024, 4:09 PM

    @FlipBip: … and ignored the expert opinions of virologists here on social media.

    22
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    Mute Mick O'K
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    Nov 15th 2024, 4:19 PM

    @Patrick Perill: yeah especially the ones saying that you take the vaccine you won’t get Covid. The loooooopera

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    Mute Sean O'Dhubhghaill
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    Nov 15th 2024, 4:26 PM

    @Mick O’K: Strange. I can’t remember anybody saying that. What I CAN remember is people saying that the symptoms would be greatly decreased, chances of hospitalisation would be greatly decreased and transmission rates would be reduced. But, no, I can’t remember any reputable source having said that I wouldn’t get Covid.

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    Mute Ger Whelan
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    Nov 15th 2024, 5:11 PM

    @Patrick Perill: could be worse. Remember that buying a substantial meal with your pint apparently kept you safe from COVID in the pubs. I’d love to meet the “expert” in government who came up with that

    76
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    Mute FlipBip
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    Nov 15th 2024, 5:21 PM

    @Sean O’Dhubhghaill: The president of America said it. But anyway, kinda drifting off topic here. Point is, they can do something quickly, when they want to.

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    Mute Sean O'Dhubhghaill
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    Nov 15th 2024, 5:58 PM

    @Ger Whelan: A perfect example of twisting a story! People sit in limited and well spaced numbers in a restuarant. People stand and mingle in much larger numbers in pubs. So Restuarants were allowed open. Cue publicans saying “But, but, but,………!”. So pubs which served meals to seated customers were allowed to open. But if you wish to believe that somebody said having a meal with your pint prevented the spread of Covid I won’t stop you.

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    Mute David S
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    Nov 15th 2024, 7:21 PM

    @Sean O’Dhubhghaill: As far as I remember nobody could define what a substantial meal was so it opened the rule up to different interpretations, thus allowing it to be, let’s say manipulated so people could go on the piss. So really it was a daft idea.

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    Mute Mick O'K
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    Nov 15th 2024, 7:32 PM

    @Sean O’Dhubhghaill: Anthony Fauci and Joe Biden said it Seán

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    Mute Mags G
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    Nov 15th 2024, 8:14 PM

    @Sean O’Dhubhghaill: and then it came out that the Covid vaccine did nothing to reduce transmission.

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    Mute Michale Kane
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    Nov 15th 2024, 4:00 PM

    It’s like Christmas morning unwrapping pressies

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    Mute Paul O Connor
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    Nov 15th 2024, 3:37 PM

    Good luck finding staff to work that late. It’s hard enough to get staff as it is with the current opening hours.

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    Mute Gerry Lamont
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    Nov 15th 2024, 3:40 PM

    Just get on with it you useless tw at.

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    Mute John Doe
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    Nov 15th 2024, 3:50 PM

    Commenting before all the old men tell us it’s a bad idea

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    Mute Derek Moran
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    Nov 15th 2024, 6:02 PM

    I was going to vote FG until I read this.

    48
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    Mute Padraig O'Brien
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    Nov 15th 2024, 5:17 PM

    She is committed. Well that’s a good start!

    31
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    Mute Brian Hunt
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    Nov 15th 2024, 6:08 PM

    Totally useless politician, a disaster at Justice Dept!

    69
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    Mute The Firestarter
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    Nov 15th 2024, 10:18 PM

    Like everything in this country they talk something to death, and then it never happens. Seriously five years for a relatively simple piece of legislation, and they still haven’t managed to get it over the line. Probably explains why we still don’t have a metro, and our health service is embarrassing.

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    Mute Dominic Leleu
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    Nov 16th 2024, 8:57 AM

    and if you contest anything that would be hate speech ?
    send her a message: don’t vote for her

    5
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    Mute Tired Jim
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    Nov 15th 2024, 4:08 PM

    I am looking forward to voting for FG in a fortnight’s time

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    Mute wwvCLOuF
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    Nov 15th 2024, 4:47 PM

    @Tired Jim: will you get off comments forever if they win? I’ll vote for them too if you promise. Your friend Simon didn’t do great on caple st yest? That old boy put him firmly in his place, Simon came off as a grumpy boy taking his football elsewhere.

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    Mute SV3tN8M4
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    Nov 16th 2024, 12:57 AM

    Micheal & Fianna Fail going to legalize drugs for all & Mc Entee going to have all night opening, what could go wrong. These people are beyond contempt with their failures & their lies.

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    Mute Veronica
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    Nov 16th 2024, 3:41 AM

    Given cost of a taxi is due to rise in December & public transport is on it’s knees it’s not going to happen plus so many people have house parties since covid!

    1
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