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Comment by jltsiren

2 days ago

All real negotiations are private. When politicians debate or negotiate in public, they inevitably start talking past each other to the general public.

Voting rituals would be a waste of time. The confirmation vote is not just about the President of the Commission but the entire package, including other major positions in the Commission and major policy directions. If no party has a majority, no candidate can hope to get majority support before the whole package has been agreed on.

> The confirmation vote is not just about the President of the Commission but the entire package, including other major positions in the Commission and major policy directions

It's two votes, not one; the President and the rest of the Commission are confirmed separately. In this case there was a four month gap between the two votes!

VDL was confirmed by the Parliament on 16 July 2019, by 383 votes to 327 against, with 22 abstentions[0].

Her Commission was approved by the Parliament on 27 November 2019 by 461 votes to 157 against, with 89 abstentions[1].

[0] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20190711IP...

[1] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20191121IP...