Timmermans to quit as EU climate czar as he returns to Dutch politics
Frans Timmermans, the chief architect of Europe's Green Deal, will resign from the Commission as he seeks to become Dutch prime minister.
A Commission official told POLITICO on Tuesday that Timmermans would quit after a left-wing alliance formally chose him as its lead candidate for the upcoming Dutch parliamentary election.
His departure leaves a big hole in a crucial portfolio in the European Commission, complicates the final push on the bloc's Green Deal legislation and creates a headache for the caretaker Dutch government.
Members of the Labor and Green parties — which will contest the November 22 general election on a joint ticket — backed Timmermans by a 91.8 percent margin.
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The party vote opened on August 14 and closed at noon Tuesday. The climate commissioner was the sole nominee to become the coalition's candidate for prime minister.
Timmermans leaves open three powerful positions in the Commission; existing commissioners will have to jostle for the roles of executive vice president, climate commissioner and commissioner in charge of the Green Deal.
Also up for grabs is the chance to represent the European Union at this year's COP28 U.N. climate talks — a high-profile international role.
Those posts are controlled by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen — although an existing power-sharing deal may limit her choice for a replacement executive vice president to serving commissioners from the Socialists & Democrats political grouping.
Timmermans also vacates the slot in the 27-person Commission held by the Netherlands. His replacement will be decided by the outgoing caretaker government in The Hague — a decision likely to be influenced by the impending election.
Deputy Prime Minister Sigrid Kaag, Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren, Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra, Timmermans' head of Cabinet Diederik Samsom and Dutch MEP Esther de Lange have all been suggested as potential candidates. However, any replacement Dutch commissioner won't necessarily get the same portfolio as Timmermans.
On Tuesday afternoon, a spokesperson from the European Commission said they could not yet comment on von der Leyen's plans to replace Timmermans.
Under Commission rules, Timmermans could have taken a leave of absence until after the election, with his duties reshuffled to other members of his Cabinet or across the Commission. Timmermans chose to quit instead, meaning the Commission will have to find a formal replacement.
His resignation, coming some 10 months before the end of the Commission's term, leaves a vacuum in Brussels — with his Green Deal project still only partially rolled out and facing political headwinds.
Timmermans left Dutch politics in 2014 to join Jean-Claude Juncker's Commission before Ursula von der Leyen picked him in 2019 to be executive vice president in charge of the Green Deal.
The Labor-Green list is currently neck and neck with the liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, according to POLITICO's poll of polls. On Monday, however, popular conservative politician Pieter Omtzigt announced he would start a new party, a move that's likely to shake up the Dutch political landscape.