The Guardian (UK) reports that “the Spanish conservative Miguel Arias Cañete was confirmed as the EU’s new climate and energy commissioner on Wednesday after a deal between centre-left and right parties in the European Parliament, despite protests from environmentalists.”  

“The centrist pact saw Liberal former Slovenian prime minister, Alenka Bratušek, overwhelmingly rejected by MEPs as the commission’s new energy union commissioner, but the words ‘sustainability, climate action and energy’ added to the portfolio of Cañete’s boss, the Dutch socialist, Frans Timmermans.”  

“MEPs had demanded this caveat as a condition for supporting Cañete, a former director of two oil companies. But after more than half a million people signed an Avaaz petition calling for Cañete’s rejection, environmentalists were left fuming at a perceived democratic deficit in the EU.”