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A sluggish negotiation until the end: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen finally unveiled her new team of commissioners on Tuesday, focused on Europe’s competitiveness. In the coming weeks, the potential commissioners will still have to pass the always tricky hurdle of hearings in Parliament and a vote by MEPs to be officially appointed. In Strasbourg, on the sidelines of the Parliament’s plenary session, Ms von der Leyen presented her cast of commissioners – one per member state.
11 women for 16 men
The future European executive currently has 11 women for 16 men, or 40%, a figure below the promised parity. The Commission President stressed a rebalancing in the final stretch, but there “is still work to be done”, agreed the German leader, after several weeks of controversy on the subject.
In an attempt to address the criticism, four of the six vice-presidencies of the Commission are being assigned to women, including the Spanish socialist Teresa Ribera. This climate specialist, a minister under Pedro Sanchez, inherits a broad portfolio dedicated to the Ecological Transition and could play one of the leading roles in the new Brussels team.
A sensitive subject, the Italian Raffaele Fitto, member of the far-right government of Giorgia Meloni, obtains a title of vice-president, for cohesion and reforms. The left and the center had nevertheless warned that they were opposed to it. The Lithuanian Andrius Kubilius was appointed Commissioner for Defense and Space, a new position created by Ursula von der Leyen, to face the Russian threat and the war in Ukraine. Behind the scenes, the negotiations for the positions were painful, until the last minute.
Stéphane Séjourné appointed
On Monday, it was the influential outgoing French Commissioner Thierry Breton who resigned with a bang, a victim of his execrable relations with Ms von der Leyen. To replace him, Emmanuel Macron proposed a close friend, Stéphane Séjourné, the discreet resigning Minister of Foreign Affairs. He obtained an executive vice-presidency and an important portfolio dedicated to prosperity and industrial strategy.
“Competitive and decarbonized” economy
The allocation of portfolios is a key moment to launch the five-year mandate of this new commission, the European executive. The European Union must display its priorities in a crucial geopolitical period, with the war in Ukraine, the American presidential campaign and economic competition from China.
Mrs von der Leyen insisted on the “competitive, circular and decarbonised” economy, in the wake of Mario Draghi’s recent report on the economic difficulties of the Union. She mentioned three pillars for the next five years: “prosperity, security and democracy”.
Hearings to come for putative commissioners
Three months after European elections marked by the rise of the extreme right, the left and NGOs fear that the Commission’s reorientation towards economic issues will be to the detriment of the climate ambitions of the previous mandate. “We must continue to take up this challenge of the fight against global warming”, but “always in the context of competitiveness”, replied Mrs von der Leyen.
“It’s not that the ambition is decreasing, it’s a phase of implementation,” also assures a source within the commission. But with fewer elected greens and a larger far right, the “Parliament is very different from that of 2019”, it will be necessary to see “what influence it will have on the subject”.
After this presentation of Ursula von der Leyen’s team, the potential commissioners will have to pass hearings in front of MEPs and submit to a vote of approval, an institutional arm wrestling match with the Parliament which often wants to mark its territory by rejecting certain candidates. “It’s like taking an exam”, to prepare, the commissioner must revise the “briefing book”, a “bible” on the action of the previous commission and what the objectives are, says a close friend of an outgoing commissioner.
Several MEPs would like to bring down the Hungarian candidate, accused of not listening to the European Parliament and being too close to the positions of nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban. As part of the Hungarian presidency of the EU, Mr Orban was due to speak in Strasbourg on Wednesday, but cancelled his visit due to the Boris storm affecting central Europe.
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