Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Luc Frieden chose centre-right MEP Christophe Hansen as commissioner over the EU Socialists’ main candidate for the European Commission presidency, Nicolas Schmit.
The incumbent Jobs and Social Rights Commissioner would have to step down and hand over the post to Christophe Hansen, the Prime Minister announced on Thursday, 22 August, despite the EU’s demand for a female candidate.
Hansen, a senior centre-right politician from Luxembourg, was the leading candidate of the Christian Social People’s Party in June’s European elections. Throughout his parliamentary career, he has mainly focused on trade issues. He was elected to the European Parliament three times, where he was a spokesman on the Brexit trade agreement and deforestation.
Like all commissioner appointees, he needs to obtain a portfolio and undergo a hearing before the European Parliament in the autumn to be officially appointed as a Luxembourg member of the commissioners’ panel.
The appointment dealt a major blow to the Socialists as Nicolas Schmit, an experienced European Commissioner and the main candidate for the Commission presidency in the European elections, had convincing arguments in favour of his reappointment.
In the spring, Schmit argued that the EPP should give an additional commissioner post to the Socialists. German SPD member of the European Parliament René Repasi said that Luxembourg should have followed the Dutch lead in 2019. The EU socialists’ Spitzenkandidat Frans Timmermans suffered defeat in the EU elections, but was still nominated as commissioner by the then Liberal-led Dutch government.
