Ursula von der Leyen announces new Commissioners, Hungary gets insignificant portfolio
The new College accurately reflects our political commitments and ambitions," began the President of the EU executive, who added that she had been through ten weeks of long and intensive negotiations with Member States. The new College aims to improve competitiveness, decarbonisation, digitalisation and safeguard European prosperity.
The six main goals are:
- strengthening our tech-sovereignty, security and democracy;
- building a competitive, decarbonised and circular economy, with a fair transition for all;
- designing a bold industrial strategy with innovation and investment at its heart;
- boosting European cohesion and regions;
- supporting people, skills and our social model;
- ensuring Europe can assert its interests and lead in the world.
These six objectives are overseen by the six Executive Vice-Presidents. se stressed that all Commissioners are equal in the Commission, as each area is linked to all the others.
Ursula von der Leyen also said she proposed to have 11 women in the College, i.e. 40% of the total number. "When I received the first set of nominations and candidates, we were on track for around 22% women and 78% men. That was unacceptable. So I worked with the Member States and we were able to improve the balance to 40% women and 60% men. And it shows that - as much as we have achieved - there is still so much more work to do. And with this in mind I assigned six Executive Vice-presidents," she added.
Four of the Executive VP's are women, two are men:
- Kaja Kallas - High Representative and Vice-President
- Roxana Mînzatu (Romania) - People, Skills and Preparedness
- Teresa Ribera (Spain) - Clean, Just and Competitive Transition
- Henna Virkkunen (Finland) - Tech-Sovereignty, Security and Democracy
- Raffaele Fitto (Italy) - Cohesion and Reforms
- Stéphane Séjourné (France) - Prosperity and Industrial Strategy.
The other areas are distributed as follows, with a number of important areas going to countries that joined after the 2004 enlargement, while Hungary receives only an insignificant portfolio.
- Maroš Šefčovič (Slovakia) – Trade and Economic Security (including customs policy).
- Valdis Dombrovskis (Latvia) – Economy and Productivity (and also Commissioner for Implementation and Simplification)
- Dubravka Šuica (Croatia) – Commissioner for the Mediterranean (also responsible for the wider southern neighbourhood)
- Olivér Várhely (Hungary) – Health and Animal Welfare (also responsible for building the European Health Union and continuing the work on beating cancer and on preventive health)
- Wopke Hoekstra (Netherlands) – Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth.
- Andrius Kubilius (Lithuania) – Defence and Space
- Marta Kos (Slovenia) – Enlargement (also responsible for the EU's Eastern neighbourhood)
- Jozef Síkela (Czech Republic) – International Partnerships
- Costas Kadis (Cyprus) – Fisheries and Oceans
- Maria Luís Albuquerque (Portugal) – Financial Services and the Savings and Investment Union
- Hadja Lahbib (Belgium) – Preparedness and Crisis Management
- Magnus Brunner (Austria) – Internal Affairs and Migration
- Jessika Roswall (Sweden) – Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy
- Piotr Serafin (Poland) – Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration
- Dan Jørgensen (Denmark) – Energy and Housing
- Ekaterina Zaharieva (Bulgaria) – Research and Innovation
- Michael McGrath (Ireland) – Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law
- Apostolos Tzitzikostas (Greece) – Sustainable Transport and Tourism
- Christophe Hansen (Denmark) – Agriculture and Food
- Glenn Micallef (Malta) – Intergenerational Fairness, Culture, Youth and Sport
Big change for Olivér Várhelyi
During the previous five-year term, Olivér Várhelyi was in charge of the enlargement area, which included one of the strongest powers: negotiating with EU candidate countries, overseeing relations with EU partner countries.
However, he has now been given one of the weakest powers.The development and implementation of health policy is mainly the Member States' own jurisdiction, although the EU does have some powers in this area, but they are mainly of a coordinating nature.
The Health Commissioner is responsible for harmonising health protection and prevention in national law. In developing EU health policy, the Health Commissioner is responsible for promoting healthy lifestyles and protecting public health in the EU.
It was important in the previous five-year period because the coronavirus pandemic required serious action from the EU. It was therefore up to Stella Kiriakides to ensure that the EU could respond appropriately, for example by coordinating the purchase and distribution of vaccines.
Várhelyi will also have a role in supporting research and innovation in health, and will be responsible for managing the allocation of EU funds, particularly in the area of research and development. It will thus stimulate the development of new medicines, technologies and health solutions.
He will have less room for manoeuvre in the development and implementation of animal welfare regulations. In particular, the EU will have the power to adopt harmonised rules on animal husbandry and animal transport, and will decide on the conditions under which animals are kept, on breeding practices, and on the conditions under which animals are transported and slaughtered.
The Commissioner's role is to coordinate new legislative proposals and initiatives, taking into account scientific advances and societal expectations, while ensuring that animal welfare requirements do not impose a disproportionate burden on the industries concerned.
Overseeing the introduction of harmonised health and animal welfare standards and regulations at EU level could be Várhelyi's job, although as we will explain in more detail later, it is far from certain that the European Parliament will accept him and vote him a mandate.
Hard-earn result, but the debate is not over yet
The nomination of the new European Commissioners was preceded by considerable anticipation and became really tense at the last minute after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last night rejected the re-nomination of Thierry Breton of France.
Moreover, von der Leyen kept her plans for the allocation of portfolios secret until the last days. At Tuesday's meeting in Strasbourg, the EC President finally had the opportunity to give the leaders of the Parliament's political groups their first insight into the structure of the next College of Commissioners and the allocation of portfolios.
However, the process of nominating all members has not been smooth, in particular due to late nominations from France and Slovenia.
Pressure on the Commission President increased, especially from Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, who called on von der Leyen to disclose not only the structure of the college but also the names of its members, in accordance with the rules.
The most dramatic part of the process involved France, which replaced its previous EU commissioner, Thierry Breton with Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné at von der Leyen's request, but only at the last minute.
This almost completely rewrote the plan for allocating portfolios. The move was not unexpected in that Breton had publicly criticised von der Leyen before, and their relationship was notoriously strained, but the French politician had previously led one of the largest portfolios in Brussels, had most of the boards of directors, and was a real strongman.
Hungary's nominee, Olivér Várhelyi, has held the post of enlargement commissioner for five years, which should have been an asset, but many have been rapping Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for his nomination. Although Várhelyi is an experienced EU professional, he is notorious for his difficult nature and his harsh treatment of his staff. He is also alleged to have sought to influence the affairs of the Balkan accession countries in the interests of the Hungarian government, despite the requirement of neutrality.
He has also been involved in several conflicts with the European Parliament and the Commission. On one occasion he called MEPs who questioned him idiots, and on other occasions he blocked Commission statements on foreign policy issues.
So although Ursula von der Leyen has now announced that she is counting on him, it seems very likely that MEPs will reject his nomination in the same way as they did in 2019 with then Justice Minister László Trócsányi. Several politicians and advisers belonging to a large group of MPs in Parliament told Portfolio:
they really want to sweat Várhelyi in his hearings.
The composition of the new Commission affects not only the political balance but also the gender balance, which also had to be taken into account. Although Séjourné is male, his appointment as the first openly gay commissioner brought a new diversity to the team. The announcement of the final list can be seen as a political triumph for von der Leyen, as she managed to replace her toughest internal opponent, Breton, and create a stronger Commission that reflects her own vision.
Cover photo: EU
