European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has angered the governing coalition parties in Germany after nominating a member of Italy’s right-wing government for a key role.
The European Union chief put forward Raffaele Fitto, Italy’s Europe minister, for one of the six positions in a new group of commissioners.
Mr Fitto is a strong ally of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who leads the Fratelli d’Italia party and won office on a hard-right agenda.
Terry Reintke, the German leader of the European Greens, hit out at Ms Von der Leyen.
She said: “Thanks to our Green votes, von der Leyen was elected in July, while the far right rejected her.”
Mr Reintke urged the EU chief to “stay on her centre course and not suddenly slide to the right.”
Another Green lawmaker, Rasmus Andresen, said the decision was “completely incomprehensible” to support someone from “a right-wing extremist party”.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the other leaders in his coalition approved Ms Von der Leyen’s nomination for the Commission in July under the condition that she did not look to cooperate with any hard-right parties.
René Repasi, head of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in the European Parliament, has told Ms Von der Leyen she will lose credibility if she appoints Mr Fitto.
Other members of Ms Von der Leyen’s Commission include France’s Stephane Sejourne, commissioner for industrial strategy.
Spanish former Ecology Minister Teresa Ribera has been appointed competition commissioner, Lithuania’s Andrius Kubilius was given the defence job, and Kaja Kallas, the former prime minister of Estonia, was handed the foreign policy brief.