(Bloomberg) — A Spanish socialist with a long record in charting her country’s climate policy is on the cusp of taking over from Big tech nemesis Margrethe Vestager as the European Union’s next antitrust chief.

Teresa Ribera, who faces an audition from EU lawmakers in Brussels late on Tuesday, was picked by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for one of the top jobs among a new cohort at the bloc’s increasingly political executive arm.

At her confirmation hearing, she’s likely to face some tough questions about her — and her government’s — response to last month’s deadly floods in Valencia. But barring a disastrous performance before the European Parliament, the 55-year-old will be responsible for reining in tech giants, nurturing regional champions and — in all likelihood — locking horns with China and incoming US President Donald Trump.

Ribera, who comes to the new role with relatively little antitrust experience, would succeed Vestager, who leaves after two terms with an impressive legacy of wins against some of the most powerful businesses and a trail of expletives from their CEOs. As well as taking charge of the bloc’s competition brief, Ribera will also oversee a broader portfolio that encompasses the EU’s quest to boost its green industries, including solar and electric batteries, which China dominates.

One of the toughest parts of Ribera’s new job will be to meet the growing expectation to help — rather than hinder — Europe’s struggle to grow businesses strong enough to compete globally, said Andreas Schwab, a German member of the European Parliament from von der Leyen’s center-right CDU party. 

“The task of the competition commissioner in 2024 is a special challenge,” said Schwab. “Plenty of policymakers would like to see some sort of protectionist move.”

A report by former Italian premier Mario Draghi offers Ribera a road map for European champions to emerge across the tech, green, defense, and telecom industries — as Europe demands an end of an era of blocking the creation of firms capable of competing on the world stage just because they could threaten local EU markets. 

As Spain’s deputy prime minister in charge of the green transition, Ribera is a close ally of the country’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who said that the nation had achieved “the highest level of influence it’s ever had in Brussels” after she was nominated for the EU post. Ribera is being pitched as a consensus builder but a tough and demanding negotiator. She’s a Madrid matriarch at the helm of a three-daughter family with a strong regulatory pulse — her husband being on the board of Spain’s financial watchdog. 

Ribera forged her EU reputation during the energy crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Spain emerging as one of the first countries to cap prices and tax producers, and she’s locked horns in the past with Spanish industry over her steadfast climate commitments.   

Taking On China

Ribera’s role in the United Nations’ climate talks led her to confront some of the world’s largest polluting nations. In Brussels, her new position will take on a similarly geopolitical hue. Using a new foreign subsidy law, she’ll have powers to vet potentially anticompetitive sovereign-state subsidies into the bloc and can issue fines or outright vetoes of state takeovers — with Chinese investments in her crosshairs. 

“Ribera has indicated that it is important to find effective tools that do not spur a trade war,” said Jonas Koponen, partner at the global law firm Cooley.

Despite blocking a raft of big deals — including telecom mergers that reduced local competition —  just 0.8% of nearly 4,000 transactions were vetoed or withdrawn under Vestager’s watch. More noticeably, the Dane issued nearly €25 billion ($26.6 billion) in fines against powerful companies, ranging from banks who rigged benchmarks to industrial powerhouses that colluded on prices. Silicon Valley was a favorite target.

Like Vestager, Ribera will be tasked with enforcing the bloc’s freshly minted Digital Markets Act — which sets strict guardrails for mainly American technology firms. She’ll also inherit an antitrust case against Google’s advertising technology arm that could result in a hugely controversial breakup order. 

Ribera will have to tread carefully with the US. Vestager angered both Apple Inc. boss Tim Cook and, during his first term, President Trump, when she ordered the firm to pay Ireland €13 billion in unpaid taxes. In October, Trump revealed Cook called him to complain some more.

“There is a huge appetite globally to keep Big Tech under control,” said Cecilio Madero former director general for competition in the commission. “Von der Leyen will expect her to be tough.” 

–With assistance from John Ainger, Ewa Krukowska, Rodrigo Orihuela, Kevin Whitelaw and Jorge Valero.

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