Ursula von der Leyen risks chairing one of the least equal colleges of commissioners in the last 20 years. Despite the fact that Germany asked EU governments to send it two names (one man and one woman) for their representatives in the new organisational chart, with the aim of configuring a gender-balanced executive, they have all ignored this, with the exception of Bulgaria. The majority of Member States have nominated exclusively men, while only nine – including Spain on the proposal of Vice-President Teresa Ribera – have done so with female candidates. With these measures, the future community government would be composed of only ten women (including Von der Leyen herself and the Bulgarian proposal) against 17 men, which would be one of the least equal if Von der Leyen or the European Parliament do not prevent it.
The solution is complex, given that the EU rules themselves contain a legal vacuum regarding gender balance requirements. “The members of the Commission will be chosen on the basis of their general competence and their European commitment, from among persons offering every guarantee of independence”, is all the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU states. And how is this choice made? The governments of the Member States send their candidates for the presidency of the European Commission once it has been elected by the European Parliament, and the latter prepares a government proposal in which it allocates the corresponding portfolios (and vice-presidencies).
“The Council, by common accord with the President-elect, will adopt the list of other personalities that it proposes to appoint as members of the Commission,” we can read in the seventh paragraph of Article 17 of this text. And this is where some consider that Von der Leyen has, at this procedural moment, the capacity to impose herself on the capitals and refuse to compose her new government with the names that have been sent to her.
“Von der Leyen has no debt to the European Council: she was elected by EU leaders and the European Parliament. Why should you be afraid to exercise your prerogative under Article 17.7 of the EU Treaty? “She can (and must) reject the agreement on the list proposed by the Member States before the Council and require that all Member States each present two candidates,” Alberto Alemanno, professor of European law at HEC Paris.
This option would lead to an unprecedented clash between the European Commission (in this case its president) and the member states. “Legally it is like this, no one can impose it on her, but I don’t see it,” says one of the sources consulted, who points to the distribution of “portfolios” as a real “powerful weapon” for Von der Leyen when it comes to pushing for a government with greater gender parity, that is, entering into a kind of trading card with the capitals to give them a prominent position as long as it is occupied by a woman. “This can put pressure on governments,” explains this source.
Von der Leyen’s discreet negotiation
According to Politico, this is what Germany is doing behind the scenes with the governments of two or three small countries, including Malta. According to the information in this media, Von der Leyen is said to have invited the socialist Robert Abela to replace the proposal of his right-hand man, Glenn Micallef, with a woman. In fact, the current Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, wants to stay in Brussels. The only exception that Von der Leyen made to the request that the governments send only one name is that they were current members of the College of Commissioners and six hold this position: Maros Sefcovic (Slovakia), Thierry Breton (France), Valdis Dombrovskis (Latvia), Olivér Várhelyi (Hungary), Wopke Hoekstra (Netherlands) and Dubravka Suica (Croatia).
For the moment, the European Commission refuses to give any kind of information and limits itself to saying that the process is “ongoing”, although it recognizes that Von der Leyen continues to have the “ambition” that her government has “gender balance”. Romania announced to the extreme Roxana Mînzatu’s candidacy, while in previous weeks it was assumed that she would propose a man. The same thing happened in the case of Belgium, which is still immersed in negotiations to form a government after the June elections, the deadline of August 30 having passed, it announced this Monday that its proposal would be to replace the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hadja Lahbib. the also liberal Didier Reynders.
To pick the daisy, Von der Leyen has little time because the European Parliament has summoned her to the Conference of Presidents on September 11, where the leaders of the parliamentary groups are meeting to present her proposal.
The European Parliament’s review
The European Parliament examines the candidates individually and then also votes within the College of Commissioners as a whole. The Social Democrats have already spoken out against the parity suspense that Von der Leyen will in principle present. “You can’t bring down a candidate just because he’s a man, you can bring down the whole package, but the way the European Parliament is constituted [con una fuerte derechización tras las elecciones europeas]”I don’t see it,” says PSOE MEP Lina Gálvez, president of the Equality Commission, who attributes the situation to the “co-sovereignty” of the European institutions and the “lack of clear protocols.”
“The elements we have are not enough and if we want to be consistent, we have to move the agenda forward,” adds Gálvez, who highlights a directive that regulates this type of situation in the European institutions that have legislated on parity. . for example, by requiring large companies to have at least 40% women on their boards of directors.
In the absence of action by Von der Leyen and the evaluation of the future commissioners by the European Parliament, the objective of a common community government is far from being achieved for the moment, although with the latest movements it has improved compared to its predecessor, José Manuel Durão. Barroso (whose first term had 18 men and seven women) or Jean-Claude Juncker (19 men and nine women). The German does not improve on the record of the last term, when it started with the largest female presence in history (sixteen men and eleven women) and ended with 13 women and 14 men in its current configuration.
Of the names known so far, only nine countries (Germany – with Von der Leyen herself –, Croatia, Estonia, Spain, Finland, Portugal, Sweden, Romania and Belgium) have nominated exclusively women and Bulgaria, which complied with Von der Leyen’s request to propose two names: former Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva and former Environment Minister Julián Popov. If you opt for the first solution, you would add ten women to the community government against 17 men.
