Belgium’s Lahbib approved by Parliament as new EU crisis management boss

Commissioner-designate for Preparedness, Crisis Management, and Equality, Hadja Lahbib, got the green light by Members of European Parliament on Wednesday afternoon, she announced on her X account. 
Her destiny was entwined with that of new Swedish commissioner Jessika Roswall, who belongs to the center-right European People’s Party (EPP).
Lahbib’s evaluation meeting was postponed one hour — from 1.30 p.m. to 2.30 p.m. — to match the evaluation meeting of commissioner Jessika Roswall, two group staffers said. The meetings were then postponed again to 4.30 p.m.
The aim was to tie the evaluation of Lahbib, who aligns with the liberal Renew group, to that of Roswall, of the center-right EPP group.
“EPP is now indeed dangling Lahbib over Roswall,” said a Renew parliamentary assistant ahead of the meeting.
In the end, Lahbib was confirmed after winning support from over two-thirds of MEPs, the necessary threshold for moving on to the next stage of her confirmation.
Ultimately, a political agreement between among political groups paved the way for Lahbib’s confirmation – as well as Roswall’s.