President von der Leyen Announces Members of New EU Commission
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a team of 26 commissioners with a focus on improved gender representation. The team includes notable figures like Teresa Ribera of Spain, Stéphane Séjourné of France, and Italy's far-right candidate, Raffaele Fitto, who faced criticism from various political factions.
Maša Ocvirk, Program Coordinator for the Wilson Center’s Global Europe Program, provides an overview of the composition of and agenda for the proposed commission. She discusses the focus on competitiveness and environmental policy, the multiple roles addressing the Green Deal, how the focus on gender equality resulted in 11 female commissioners, the new defense and space commissioner position held by Lithuania, and a new position focused on EU enlargement. The latter will likely be held by a Slovenian candidate.
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President Von der Leyen Announces Members of New EU Commission
This time a big emphasis is on EU competitiveness with two big countries, France and Spain, taking over industrial strategy and, competitive transition.
Von der Leyen also tried to address the fears of the future of the European New Green Deal by creating several or potentially overlapping positions that deal with, environment and climate.
At the beginning, it seemed like von der Leyen was going to have difficulties delivering on her promise of a gender-balanced commission. With some last minute negotiations, mostly with smaller member states, most prominently Slovenia, she in the end was able to deliver on 11 female candidates out of 27, which is a much better result than was initially expected.
There is some controversy around nominating the Italian candidate, Raffaele Fitto as one of the executive vice presidents. He is a member of the far right Brothers of Italy. This has raised concerns about potential cooperation by von der Leyen with the far right.
One of the most surprising things was the last minute of withdrawal of candidacy for the French candidate, Thierry Breton., who was already commissioner in the previous commission and was expected to have this position also in this term.
This was announced yesterday and quickly replaced by a new candidate, Stéphane Séjourné , who's currently the French foreign minister.
There are also three highly expected new commission positions.
One of them, of course, is, position of the Defense and Space Commissioner, which has gone to Lithuania. This can be interpreted as a clear sign from von der Leyen but also in general by the European Union of, doubling down on its defense capabilities and continued support for Ukraine.
Another thing to note is the creation of a commissioner exclusively for enlargement, which shows that this topic will continue being on top of EU agenda. The position will be held most probably by a candidate from Slovenia, which also shows that there is potential for new momentum in the western Balkans as Slovenia was one of the vital voices to bring candidacy status for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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The Global Europe Program is focused on Europe’s capabilities, and how it engages on critical global issues. We investigate European approaches to critical global issues. We examine Europe’s relations with Russia and Eurasia, China and the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. Our initiatives include “Ukraine in Europe” – an examination of what it will take to make Ukraine’s European future a reality. But we also examine the role of NATO, the European Union and the OSCE, Europe’s energy security, transatlantic trade disputes, and challenges to democracy. The Global Europe Program’s staff, scholars-in-residence, and Global Fellows participate in seminars, policy study groups, and international conferences to provide analytical recommendations to policy makers and the media. Read more
