Spain's green Socialist gets top European Commission role as leader sets out plans

Spain's outspoken Socialist deputy prime minister will take charge of Europe's "clean transition", it emerged yesterday, as Ursula von der Leyen outlined the choices for her team of 26 top officials.

- Jennifer Rankin

Teresa Ribera is set to become one of six executive vice-presidents to take on powerful roles in the incoming European Commission, which is expected to start work at the end of the year.

The French president Emmanuel Macron's close ally Stéphane Séjourné, another vice-president pick, gets a portfolio in charge of industrial policy, while the Italian farright leader Giorgia Meloni's choice, Raffaele Fitto, will oversee funding for Europe's poorer regions.

After weeks of wrangling with national capitals, the final list was a careful balancing act of geography, party affiliation and gender.

It was also a show of strength by von der Leyen, the first woman to lead the commission, who strongarmed some governments into providing female candidates. She oversaw the departure of some of her sternest critics, including France's Thierry Breton, who was expected to serve a second-term in Brussels until his shock resignation on Monday, when he criticised "questionable governance" at the commission.