After weeks of fierce political horse-trading, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen yesterday unveiled her new top team to help steward the EU through the next five years of global uncertainty.
Faced with Russia’s war in Ukraine, the potential return of Donald Trump as US president and competition from China, the formation of the new commission comes at a crucial moment.
“It’s about strengthening our tech sovereignty, our security and our democracy,” Von der Leyen said, as she announced the team at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
Photo: EPA-EFE
To confront the challenges, Von der Leyen handed French candidate Stephane Sejourne a powerful executive vice president role overseeing industrial strategy, and also named a new commissioner for defense to help Europe rearm. Spain’s candidatem Teresa Ribera, a socialist climate campaigner, was also made an executive vice president, tasked with overseeing the bloc’s economic transition toward carbon neutrality.
The new defense brief went to former Lithuanian prime minister Andrius Kubilius, one of several hawkish Russia critics in eastern Europe to receive a prominent role.
Those include former Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas, already chosen by EU leaders as the bloc’s foreign policy chief.
As part of the bloc’s careful balancing act, the German head of the EU executive had to choose the lineup for her second term from nominees put forward by the other 26 member states.
That has meant treading a political tightrope between the demands of competing national leaders — and putting some noses out of joint.
The highest-profile casualty was France’s first-choice candidate Thierry Breton, who on Monday quit suddenly as internal market commissioner, accusing Von der Leyen of pushing Paris to ditch him.
Von der Leyen fell short in her efforts to get a gender-balanced administration, ending up with 40 percent women after pressuring member states to put forward female nominees.
The choice of who gets which job is an indication of where Brussels wants to steer the EU — and the weight commanded by the member states and political groupings after the EU Parliament elections in June.
Among the six powerful commission vice presidents is Italy’s Raffaele Fitto, handed a cohesion brief in a nod to gains made by far-right parties in the June elections. The prospect of giving a top role to a member of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers of Italy a top job has raised hackles among centrist and leftist groups.
After losses by Green parties at the June ballot, defending the environment had skidded down the list of priorities in Brussels, and how the various aspects of environmental policy were split between commissioners was a subject of particular scrutiny.
As well as Ribera’s overarching green transition role, the center-right Dutchman Wopke Hoekstra will also carry on in a role handling climate and the push to make the EU carbon neutral.
Among other eye-catching choices were decisions to hand Finland’s Henna Virkkunen a powerful tech and security job, Croatia’s Dubravka Suica a new role overseeing the Mediterranean region, and Slovenia’s Marta Kos — yet to be confirmed as her country’s candidate — the enlargement gig.
All the would-be commissioners will need to win over broad political support as they have to still get approval from the European Parliament. Hearings are set to start in Brussels in the coming weeks and lawmakers could flex their muscles by rejecting some candidates.
Chief among those suspected for the chopping block are Hungary’s Oliver Varhelyi, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s man in Brussels over the past five years.
Varhelyi was handed a diminished role this time round covering health and animal welfare. The stated target is to have a new commission in place by Nov. 1, but diplomats say that looks like an ambitious goal, with a Dec. 1 start more likely.
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