Ursula von der Leyen revealed on 17 September the names of the 27 commissioners who will make up her team within the European Commission (the full list can be found below). In the coming weeks, the candidates, one from each Member State, will still have to be interviewed by the European Parliament. Their nomination will then be validated, or rejected, by a vote of MEPs.
One hearing will be particularly scrutinised: that of the Italian Raffaele Fitto, appointed vice-president in charge of regional cohesion policies and reforms. The new commissioner is in fact Minister for European Affairs in Giorgia Meloni’s government. For several weeks, the possibility of the appointment of a far-right commissioner has been the subject of strong criticism within the left-wing political groups in the European Parliament.
A non-parity college of commissioners
The composition of this team was done with difficulty, Ursula von der Leyen had also postponed the announcement of the names by a week, in order to be able to continue the negotiations. First sticking point: respect for parity. “When I received the first nomination proposals from the Member States, we had 22% women and 78% men. You can imagine that this was completely unacceptable,” Ursula von der Leyen confided during her press conference.
The Commission President finally presents a slightly more balanced college of commissioners, composed of 11 women and 16 men. To compensate for her failure to achieve parity, Ursula von der Leyen has however chosen to appoint four women to the positions of executive vice-presidents, out of the six to be filled.
Stéphane Séjourné obtains the portfolio of prosperity and industrial strategy
A position of Vice-President Commissioner, a top-ranking position in Ursula von der Leyen’s team, has also been assigned to Stéphane Séjourné. The resigning Minister of Foreign Affairs thus obtains the important portfolio dedicated to “prosperity” and “industrial strategy”.
His candidacy was proposed by Emmanuel Macron, after the resounding resignation on September 16 of the outgoing French Commissioner Thierry Breton, victim of his bad relations with Ursula von der Leyen.
Asked about this subject during the press conference, the President of the European Commission preferred to dodge the question, welcoming the proposal made by the President of the Republic to appoint Stéphane Séjourné. “I know him very well, we worked together when he was in the European Parliament. I am sure that he will be an excellent commissioner,” she stressed.
The composition of the European Commission
– President: Ursula von der Leyen (Germany)
– Executive Vice-President for Just, Clean and Competitive Transition: Teresa Ribera Rodriguez (Spain)
– Executive Vice-President for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy: Henna Virkunnen (Finland)
– Executive Vice President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy: Stéphane Séjourné (France)
– High Representative for Foreign Affairs: Kaja Kallas (Estonia)
– Executive Vice-President for Population and Skills: Roxana Minzatu (Romania)
– Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms: Raffaele Fitto (Italy)
– Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security: Maros Sefcovic (Slovakia)
– Commissioner for Economy and Productivity: Valdis Dombrovskis (Latvia)
– Commissioner for the Mediterranean: Dúbravka Suica (Croatia)
– Commissioner for Animal Health and Welfare: Oliver Varhelyi (Hungary)
– Commissioner for Climate and Clean Growth: Wopke Hoekstra (Netherlands)
– Commissioner for EU Enlargement: Marta Kos (Slovenia)
– Defence Commissioner: Andrius Kubilius (Lithuania)
– Commissioner for International Partnerships: Jozef Sikela (Czech Republic)
– Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans: Costas Kadis (Cyprus)
– Financial Services Commissioner: Maria Luis Albuquerque (Portugal)
– Crisis Management Commissioner: Hadja Lahbib (Belgium)
– Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration: Magnus Brunner (Austria)
– Commissioner for Environment, Water and Competitive Circular Economy: Jessika Roswall (Sweden)
– Commissioner for Budget, Anti-Fraud and Administration: Piotr Serafin (Poland)
– Commissioner for Energy and Housing: Dan Jorgenson (Denmark)
– Commissioner for Start-ups, Research and Innovation: Ekaterina Zaharieva (Bulgaria)
– Commissioner for Democracy and Justice: Michael McGrath (Ireland)
– Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism: Apostolos Tzizikostas (Greece)
– Commissioner for Agriculture and Food: Christophe Hansen (Luxembourg)
– Commissioner for Intergenerational Justice, Youth, Culture and Sport: Glenn Micallef (Malta)
