European Union

Meet the von der Leyen Commission

After this year’s European elections, and the lengthy horse-trading process that took place over the summer, President-elect Ursula von der Leyen has unveiled the team of twenty-eight commissioners she intends to serve with her for the next five years.

Of course, simply appointing would-be commissioners is not enough: they require rubber-stamping by the European Parliament, a process which is by no means automatic and has already resulted in a few surprise upsets. While that process is ongoing, however, it’s useful to look at the list of personalities that von der Leyen and the Member States have selected to serve in the next European Commission.

Belgium

Belgium’s new commissioner, Didier Reynders, is the kingdom’s former Minister of Finance and previously Minister for Foreign Affairs. He had already been pipped to receive a portfolio in Jean-Claude Juncker’s Commission in 2014, but fell to the sidelines at the last moment.

Reynders has been appointed as European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality. This is a politically-laden portfolio, considering von der Leyen’s insistence on gender equality, and the complex questions facing European judiciaries. Reynders will also oversee the establishment of the new European Public Prosecutor’s Office. This office will be a brand new institution within the European Union, focusing on crimes involving EU funds and money laundering. Romanian anti-corruption champion Laura Cotruda Kovesi to this position speaks to the delicate nature of Reynders’ portfolio.

Reynders’ appointment, however, has been overshadowed by Belgian media reports of a corruption probe being conducted by public prosecutors. Specifically, Reynders is accused of receiving bribes by Congolese officials. The investigation was dropped after “the charges were dismissed because there was no criminal offence”, a spokesperson for the prosecution explained – but that hasn’t entirely quieted the controversy.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria’s new Commissioner is not a new face in EU politics. Mariya Gabriel served as Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society and has been part of Juncker’s team since 2017, following the resignation of the previous Bulgarian Commissioner, Kristalina Georgieva, in 2016. Throughout her time working in the EU, Gabriel played a pivotal role in the Danube Strategy, a project to improve and boost the Danube macro-region. 

She has a keen interest in diplomacy, which she demonstrated by entering the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, a body tasked with resolving conflicts, improving diplomatic and commercial relations between Africa, the EU and the Caribbeans. All the while, she has served as an MEP for nine years, being elected as a member of the GERB, a populist conservative party currently part of the EPP’s group.

Gabriel has been appointed as European Commissioner for Innovation & Youth, against Bulgaria’s Prime Minister’s preference for keeping the digital portfolio his country had under Juncker’s Commission. In the new role, her goal will be to create a steady flow of investments and a “true European Research Area” to improve technology through ongoing research and innovation shared across the Union. In this regard, the Commissioner’s aim is to ensure the creation of the European Education Area, triple the funds for Erasmus+ programmes, and update the Digital Education Action Plan. This plan is in line with Commission President’s declared focus on spreading culture, including sports, through digital and analogic means.

Czechia

Czechia’s candidate is a returning one. Věra Jourová has served in the previous Commission under Jean-Claude Juncker as the European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality. 

One of Jourová’s greatest accomplishments during her previous term was the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), together with Andrus Ansip, Vice-President for the Digital Single Market. The regulation followed the imperative of “forging a common EU approach” to the guarantee of privacy for EU citizens’ data all over the world. Her portfolio also included negotiating the EU-US Safe Harbor Agreement and further collaboration with Ansip “to modernise and simplify consumer rules for online and digital purchases”.

Despite originally aiming for an economic or digital portfolio, Jourová has landed the Values & Transparency portfolio. This appointment moves Jourová to the level of Vice-President, providing her with a more powerful position than she had been looking for. 

Denmark

Margrethe Vestager (ALDE), the incumbent Competition Commissioner, will assume the Europe Fit for the Digital Age portfolio and an Executive Vice Presidency of the Commission.

During her tenure in the Juncker Commission, she has opened probes against large companies such as Google, Amazon, Apple, Gazprom, and Cyprus Airways, among others, for illegal state aid and trust practices. These investigations resulted in fines worth billions for infringement of EU competition and free-market regulations.

Before joining the Commission, she held several ministerial positions in Denmark, Ecclesiastical Affairs (1998-2001), Education (1998-2001), and Economy and Interior (2011-14). During her economic ministry, she was tasked with chairing the meetings of the ECOFIN in 2012.

In her new portfolio, she will retain her competition responsibilities. Vestager will also be tasked with leading a new strategy for Europe’s industrial future, drafting a Digital Services Act, and working on a European approach to Artificial Intelligence and digital taxation. It has recently been revealed that state aids and funds slated for agriculture have been moved from the Directorate General of Agriculture into Competition, where they will be under Vestager’s purview.

Germany

Ursula von der Leyen was a late bloomer in politics, in spite of her family’s long-lasting links with the CDU as well as the European civil service. She only began an active career in the 1990s, after completing her studies in medicine and in economics (currently holding an active medical license). Her career took off with the formation of Angela Merkel’s first government in 2005: von der Leyen became a close political ally of the new Chancellor, and occupied a variety of ministerial roles in the following fourteen years, making her the longest-serving member in Merkel’s cabinet.

With her appointment the Commission will have a German president for the first time in fifty years – although that was not the original plan. Following the European elections, Merkel had negotiated for Frans Timmermans to lead the new European Commission, with Manfred Weber meant to secure two consecutive European parliament presidency mandates as a consolation prize.

The plan went awry when the EPP vehemently protested against not getting the Commission presidency, rebelling against Merkel’s wishes and exposing fault lines between conservatives. These events led to a tortuous nomination process, with no real winners. Ursula von der Leyen emerged as a compromise candidate, and will be the first woman to hold the post of European Commission president.

As she tries to navigate a changing, fractious political climate, von der Leyen has a tough job ahead. So far, the team she has assembled displays a preponderance of foreign policy backgrounds, essential in a context of growing international fragmentation and great power competition. In this light, and thanks to her long-standing NATO contacts, von der Leyen seems well positioned to drive a push for closer industrial coordination on defence, and deeper EU-NATO integration. Climate change also ranks high among the new Commission’s political commitments, and efforts to create a gender-balanced Commission for the first time. Her position on rule of law controversies is less clear, and the combination of the looming global recession and internal EU political developments suggest a softer stance on fiscal and budgetary rigour.

Estonia

Born in 1977, Kadri Simson is an established player in Estonian politics having had a prolonged career within the country’s Centre Party. After serving in the country’s parliament for ten years, Simson became Minister for Economic Affairs and Infrastructure in 2016, as part of a coalition deal that saw Estonia’s centre-right and centre-left join efforts in government. She kept her post until April 2019.

Given her background, it is no small wonder that Estonian prime minister Jüri Ratas originally asked for her to receive the economic affairs portfolio in the new Commission. This would have provided a departure from Estonia’s assigned digital market portfolio in the Juncker Commission, which had been a recognition of the small country’s remarkable achievements in digitalisation. This was Simson’s preferred choice. 

That plan, however, was scuppered by the momentous events that took place in Italy during the summer. With the new Italian government proving much more amenable to the Commission’s wishes, the economic affairs portfolio passed to Rome and Paolo Gentiloni. This gave the new government in Rome a boost of much-needed legitimacy but it also left Estonia needing to improvise. The choice to give Simson responsibility for the energy portfolio stems from her experience with infrastructure, and von der Leyen’s stated reasoning is that Simson will bring a modern perspective to the issue of energy deployment across the Union.

Simson certainly has a lot on her plate: if the EU is to fulfil its commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050, energy efficiency legislation needs to be deployed immediately. Furthermore, adequate investment in research and development must be made to ensure that interconnectivity and energy storage can support continued decarbonisation.

Ireland

Ireland’s Phil Hogan is the Irish incumbent commissioner and is, once again, their choice for the Commission. The 59-year-old is a former Fine Gael (EPP) Member of Parliament in his native Ireland, having served in the country’s parliament for Carlow-Kilkenny between 1989 and 2014. His involvement in electoral politics goes back to 1979, when (at the age of 22) he was first elected as a councillor. 

His background as a farm worker and farmer’s son played a part in his appointment as European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, a position he has served in since November 2014. During his term as commissioner, he was responsible for promoting growth and investment in new jobs through EU agricultural and rural development, renewing the effectiveness of EU spending in these areas, and lowering carbon dioxide emissions in agriculture. His experience, both in the Commission and prior to it, led many to conclude that Commissioner Hogan would retain the same role, but this was not to be the case. 

Commissioner Hogan will be receiving the much-coveted Trade Commissioner portfolio, something that he has allegedly sought for some time. While neither of his domestic Ministerial positions – Environment, Community and Local Government, and Finance – lend themselves directly to a trade position, it is Commissioner Hogan’s involvement in and advocacy for the Mercosur trade agreement that has been the most obvious indication of his interest in trade. Commissioner Hogan defended the EU-South American trade deal against domestic opposition, putting EU-wide trade concerns above the complaints of Irish farmers. This inevitably highlighted Hogan’s suitability as a man who will do what is best for the EU in its entirety and not just for domestic voter blocs. 

Furthermore, Ireland’s proximity to the UK and the exaggerated impact Brexit will have on the island nation are factors that no doubt played a role in Commissioner Hogan’s allocation to the trade position. Commissioner Hogan has spoken publicly and strongly on Brexit, and is a staunch critic of both Boris Johnson and Brexit itself. With a veteran, Irish Commissioner leading Trade on the Commission, it will be interesting to see what post-Brexit trade negotiations will look like.

Greece

Born in 1962, Margaritis Schinas is an EU politics veteran, although most of his career has seen him within the civil service. After many years serving as a functionary in the European Commission, Schinas became an MEP for Greek centre-right party New Democracy in 2007, and occupied the post until 2009. Following this, he rejoined the Commission in a more political role, eventually gaining the appointment to head the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs in 2013.

The Greek government under Tsipras was already keen on securing the migration portfolio, and the change of leadership following snap elections in the summer did not alter this policy. Schinas managed to overcome the challenge of former prime minister Antonis Samaras for the appointment, in part due to the latter’s outspoken opposition to the Macedonian name deal, and negative reputation in Brussels. This contrasts nicely with Schinas’ low political profile, outspoken pro-European views, and wealth of administrative experience with a number of portfolios. It is Athens’ hope that Schinas will be able to rebuild Greek credibility in Brussels.

The portfolio Schinas ended up with, however, is more complicated than just migration. Its title, “Protecting the European Way of Life” has drawn much comment and criticism for its apparent nod to the far right and to Islamophobia. It also brings together several different competences: Schinas will oversee elements of education and the labour market, as well as the original responsibilities for migration and border controls. 

In the two former policy areas, he will cooperate with other Commissioners, and it appears that von der Leyen’s intention is to entrust Schinas with legislating on young people’s transition from education into the labour market, the integration of migrants in the latter, asylum policies, and the coherence of the Security Union. The latter task will involve border controls, but also internal security and Member State coordination.

Spain 

72 year old Josep Borrell (PES) will succeed Federica Mogherini as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and will also be ex-officio Vice President. His portfolio will also bear the name of “A stronger Europe in the world”.

The veteran politician first became involved in local politics in 1975, when he was a lecturer in mathematics at the Complutense University of Madrid. During the socialist Felipe González’s tenure as Prime Minister between 1982-96, Borrell held several offices in the finance ministry, reaching fame due to his measures against tax evasion and fraud affecting celebrities. It was only in 1991 that he obtained a cabinet portfolio as Minister for Public Works and Transport.

With his party in opposition, he failed to win the 1998 primary election. However, he would get his first Europe-related position as Chair of the Joint Congress-Senate Committee for the EU a year later. He would also become the Spanish representative in the Convention on the Future of Europe, which drafted the European Constitution. In 2004, he was elected to become an MEP and the European Parliament’s President for two and a half years.  After his relative retirement from politics following the 2009 European elections, he kept a low profile and held a number of academic positions.

The Catalan crisis in late 2017 brought him back to the forefront of politics, as he became one of the most outspoken politicians against the secessionists’ manoeuvres to separate Catalonia from the rest of Spain. When the socialists returned to power in June 2018, Borrell became the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the European Union.

His new European portfolio is expected to be a continuation of Mogherini’s policies with increased powers relative to foreign aid, development support, and matters related to immigration. His appointment could further enhance the rule of law overseas, for he has been a staunch defender of this precept as the cornerstone of democratic societies.

France

French president Emmanuel Macron originally selected Sylvie Goulard (LREM/RE) to be the next Commissioner for the Internal Market. Her appointment, however, has been rejected by the European Parliament in a humiliating blow to Macron’s maneuvering. 

Goulard has served in the European Commission before: she was previously one of the political advisors of Romano Prodi, former Commission President. She also served as a former high functionary of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, and later got two terms as MEP, starting in 2009. Her role in the legislative has comprised matters related to economic and monetary affairs as well as relations with Japan. On her second mandate (2014-2017), she also joined the constitutional affairs committee. Goulard has often expressed her federalist opinions and is one of the co-founders of the Spinelli Group, an initiative aimed at reinvigorating the federalisation of the European Union. 

She tendered early resignations from her post as an MEP, following Emmanuel Macron’s election triumph. The reason behind the resignation was for her to take up a spot in Macron’s new government as Minister of the Armies. However, she was forced to resign one month into the job due to a financial scandal during the time as MEP.

That same scandal came back to bite her during two confirmation hearings of the European Parliament. The EPP spearheaded the criticism, and her answers pertaining to the scandal proved unconvincing to the chamber. Rumours have it that the EPP was exacting revenge on Macron for killing Manfred Weber’s candidacy to the Commission presidency. However, the confirmation hearings also unveiled parliamentary scepticism over her previous collaboration with an American think tank.

Moreover, the sheer complexity of her portfolio raised doubts about her ability to tackle the job. The new Internal Market portfolio has undergone a considerable transformation, absorbing elements of industrial planning and coordination, integrated military procurement, and a revamped European space programme. In von der Leyen’s thinking, the portfolio will also include responsibilities for developing new solutions to tackle the exit of the United Kingdom from the EU

After Goulard’s appointment was rejected, Macron proposed Thierry Breton as France’s candidate for head of industrial policy at the European Commission. Breton is Atos chief executive and served as France’s finance minister between 2005 and 2006. Given his pro-European conservative alignment it should be easier to get the European Parliament to approve the nomination.

Croatia

Dubravka Šuica (EPP) will be the next Commissioner for Democracy and Demography, as well as Commission Vice President. She began her career as a school teacher and university lecturer, and then won municipal elections to become the mayor of Dubrovnik in 2001, a position she left in 2009. She was also elected Vice President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe in 2004, and occupied the position until 2016.

As soon as Croatia joined the EU in 2013, she became a MEP. Her role in the legislative has comprised the Vice Chair of the Delegation for relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, as well as membership of the Committee on Environment, Public Health, and Food Safety.

Her responsibilities in the Commission will include assessing the impact of demographic change on different groups in Europe, developing a long-term vision for rural areas, reconciling work and family, and countering the effects of brain drain. She will also lead the Conference on the Future of Europe, and the first step of her tenure will be to define its scope. Šuica is also tasked with enhancing participation in the Conference and following the Conference agreements.

Italy 

As of the 26th of August, the deadline for presenting a Commissioner nomination, Italy was one of only three EU states that failed to put forward a name. As a country in the grips of a governmental crisis, this was hardly a surprise. Nevertheless, Italy managed to appoint a nominee, if only after the expiration of the deadline, and tipped Paolo Gentiloni for the job. Gentiloni is a political heavyweight in his country, and his selection indicates how seriously the new Italian government takes the new Commission.

The 64-year-old is the former Italian Prime Minister, having served between 2016 and 2018. He is a founding member of the leading coalition party of the Italian government Partito Democratico (S&D), and is the party’s current president. His political career began in 2001, when he was first elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies. He has served in the Italian legislature and executive continuously since then. 

Gentiloni will be taking up the mantle of Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs and serving as the Director-General for Taxation and Customs Union. This is an important appointment for Italy, as entrusting defence of the Customs Union is a sign of confidence in the new government, especially in the immediate aftermath of the League government’s antagonistic approach to Brussels. 

It could also be seen as an endorsement of Gentiloni himself. He is known as a staunch pro-European, and possibly a man well suited to the task of coordinating taxation across the Union. He will also likely have a role in the upcoming post-Brexit trade negotiations with the UK, especially if a future UK government is to seek closer alignment with the Customs Union. 

Cyprus 

Stella Kyriakides is a fresh player in the European Union, but far from a newcomer on the political stage. From 1979 to 2006, she served as a clinical psychologist for the Ministry of Health. From 2006 to 2017, she was part of Cyprus’ Parliament with the Dimokratikós Sinagermós (Democratic Rally) the liberal conservative, Christian party nowadays in charge of the country.

In 2017, she became the first Cypriot to serve as President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which oversees the European Court of Human Rights. Kyriakides has also served as president of European Breast Cancer Europa Donna and as President of the National Committee on Cancer Strategy.

Thanks to her experience, President-elect von der Leyen proposed the Cypriot Commissioner for the Health portfolio. In general, her mission will consist of improving “the quality and sustainability of [Member States’] health systems”. 

A large part of her job consists of trying to maintain or ensure the affordability of medicines all throughout the Union and to enforce technological development of medical devices. Her biggest challenge will likely be having to face off with the upward trend of anti-scientific beliefs such as anti-vax movements. Kyriakides will also be responsible for food-safety issues such as improving eco-sustainable food,  product information transparency for consumers, and the adoption of legislation against food fraud.

Latvia

Latvia’s Commission nominee is not a new face in European politics. Valdis Dombrovskis has just finished serving a term as the European Commission Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue. He has also been overseeing the financial services portfolio formerly entrusted to British Commissioner Jonathan Hill, who resigned after the Brexit vote. Previously, he also served as Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, MEP, and member of the Latvian Parliament with an EPP-affiliated party. 

With his experience in financial policy, it is no surprise that Dombrovskis  has been assigned a position as Executive Vice-President, with the portfolio ‘An Economy that Works for the People’. This position will focus on supervising EU countries’ fiscal and macroeconomic policies, strengthening the economy against possible shocks, and further developing the Banking Union and the Capital Markets Union. Both Dombrovskis and von der Leyen have also stressed that this position will emphasise green finances and promote an economic transformation geared towards sustainable development.  

Lithuania

Lithuania has put forward its acting Minister of Economy and Innovation, Virginijus Sinkevičius, as the country’s candidate for the European Commission. The 28-year old is relatively new to politics: he started his career together with the ruling Farmers and Greens Union in 2016 and was appointed to his current post in 2017. The two MEPs elected with the Farmers and Greens Union currently sit with the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, however they are not part of the umbrella political family, the European Greens Party.

As a part of a centrist agrarian party, he is the sole Greens-affiliated commissioner put forward as a candidate in the new College and has been assigned the portfolio of Environment and Oceans. In this role, he will lead a new biodiversity strategy for 2030, deliver on the carbon neutrality by 2050 ambition programme, and attempt to shape a new circular economy action plan.

However, one issue is likely to arise during his time a Commissioner: Lithuania’s Farmers and Greens Union, despite the name, is not particularly devoted to climate change policy development. With von der Leyen hoping to put the environment at the centre of her term and the Greens group in the Parliament being a significant bloc to sway over, he might encounter substantive obstacles in getting his way in the next five years, unless he significantly increases his ambitions compared to the rest of his party back home. 

Luxembourg

Luxembourg has put forward the former Minister of Labour, socialist Nicolas Schmit, as its would-be commissioner for von der Leyen’s mandate. Schmit has previously participated in the Luxembourgish government under the former President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker. He was the Minister-delegate for Foreign Affairs and Immigration, and developed his knowledge about European Union during his mandate.

He has landed the portfolio of Commissioner for Labour, Employment and Social Economy. His nomination was settled by a government deal reached after general elections held in 2018, and demonstrates how seriously the Grand Duchy takes its commissioner appointments. He is tasked with making good on von der Leyen’s pledge to make sure all EU citizens have access to a fair minimum wage.

Hungary

László Trócsányi is Hungary’s Commissioner-Designate for the von der Leyen Commission and is a member of the Hungarian ruling party Fidesz (EPP). He is an elected MEP, although at 63 his political and non-political experience is wide ranging. Before politics, Trócsányi was a lawyer and judge, with expertise across Constitutional, European, and Comparative law. His political career began in 2000, when the multi-tasking Trócsányi was appointed to serve as Hungarian ambassador to both Belgium and Luxembourg at the same time. He has also served as Minister of Justice between 2014 and June 2019. 

After his announcement as Hungary’s candidate, he openly stated that he wished to pursue the European neighbourhood policy and enlargement portfolio, which he was nominated for by von der Leyen. He was a very controversial nominee from the outset however, having been a vocal supporter of the idea that the West and East of the EU are fundamentally different. His confirmation was long in doubt and he was expected to remain without a portfolio. 

On the 30th of September his nomination was rejected by the Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs. Trócsányi’s law firm and its work for and with the Hungarian government proved one of the factors in his undoing, along with his possible conflicts of interest regarding Russia. Trócsányi condemned the decision of the Committee, and has slammed the decision as a “campaign of revenge” by “pro-immigration” forces, threatening his own legal action. Hungary has nominated its ambassador to the EU, Olivér Várhelyi, as its new candidate.

Malta

Malta’s pick, Helena Dalli, is one of the archipelago’s most experienced parliamentarians, gaining her seat in the Maltese parliament for the first time in 1996 with the Labour Party. Every new election since then has confirmed her in her role, which she also paired with the position of Junior Minister for Women’s Rights. In 2013, she graduated to a full ministerial position, running the Ministry for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties. Here, she vigorously advocated for minority rights and social equality. In 2017, she transitioned to a different ministry, namely that of European Affairs and Equality.

Dalli’s appointment is in continuity with her career. President von der Leyen has selected her to serve as Commissioner for Equality. She will have an explicit political mandate to create a “European gender strategy” and to foster the implementation of LGBT+ rights all across the Union. 

Netherlands

Smarting from having lost the presidency race to von der Leyen, Frans Timmermans will fall back on a second term as Commissioner. He had previously served as Juncker’s right-hand man, in the position of First Vice-President of the Commission in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. 

During his first term, he repeatedly and vocally criticised Poland’s judiciary reform, as well as the state of the rule of law in Romania and Hungary alike. In 2017, he was behind the launch of infringement procedures against Poland over the independence of judges. It was the first time in the bloc’s history that the nuclear option of infringement proceedings under Article 7 had been activated. 

Timmermans has been assigned to an Executive Vice-President position in order to lead the work on the European Green Deal, which should be presented in the first 100 days of the new Commission’s mandate. His goal will be to increase the ambition of 2030 emission reduction targets of the Union, lead international negotiations to increase the level of ambition of other major emitters by 2021, and help fund the transition of coal-intensive regions to renewables. He will also deal with climate more in general: the end-goal will be to enshrine a 2050 climate-neutral target into EU legislation and creating a new cultural mentality towards climate in citizens, businesses, and governments alike. 

Austria

Johannes Hahn is not a new name in Austrian, or indeed European politics. He began his activism for Austria’s conservative People’s Party during his student years in Vienna. Save for a stint serving as the CEO of gambling company Novomatic, Hahn has devoted most of his time to his political career. In the early 1990s, he became an advocate for Austrian accession to the European Union, and in 2007 he became Austria’s Minister of Science and Research.

Most significantly, however, Hahn has plenty of experience serving as a Commissioner. He first landed the post of Commissioner for Regional Policy as part of Barroso’s tenure in 2010. He was later confirmed in Juncker’s Commission, this time taking responsibility for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations. This makes his would-be appointment to the von der Leyen Commission his third consecutive stint in the institution.

President von der Leyen has nominated Hahn to be the new EU Commissioner for Budget and Administration. This happened with the auspices of the Austrian caretaker government: its right-wing predecessor, led by Sebastian Kurz, was more inclined to replace Hahn with a more conservative figure. Hahn’s expertise in modernising an administration has been cited as the reason for the appointment, and with the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework due for renegotiations soon, there is no doubt that Hahn will have a big job on his hands.

Poland

Initially, Poland put forward Krzysztof Szczerski as its Commission nominee. However, Warsaw was forced to an embarassing back-track when von der Leyen announced that Poland would receive the Agriculture portfolio. Szczerski had a complete lack of experience in the field, and Poland had only appointed him with the expectation that he would receive a different portfolio. Szczerski therefore decided to withdraw his candidacy. 

In his place, Poland tipped Janusz Wojciechowski as a candidate. Wojciechowski’s political career began in Poland’s agrarian United People’s Party, and since 2003 he has been working for the European Parliament, starting with the agricultural sector in 2004: he served as Vice-Chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development. He also served the EU Parliament as a member of the Committee on Budgetary Control and as a member of the EU delegation to various countries.

During his many terms in the EU Parliament, he has worked on various themes regarding agriculture, focusing a lot on animal rights: from how they are transported to their protection at the time of killing, a theme that he will probably delve into in considerable depth as Commissioner for Agriculture.

Portugal 

Elisa Ferreira (S&D) will serve as Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, the successor of the regional policy portfolio. She will inherit the duties of former commissioner Corina Crețu, adding reform responsibilities to them. Her department manages up to one third of the EU’s budget, by means of the European Regional Development Fund. It aims to transfer money from richer regions to the less well-off, create sustainable jobs, and develop particular regions of the EU.

Her background includes six years (1995-2001) in the Portuguese cabinet office as Minister for Environment, first, and then for Planning. She was elected as MEP in 2004, where she served as a member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, advocating for the ECB to obtain the power to oversee financial stability in the Eurozone. She resigned her seat in 2016 to be appointed deputy governor of the Bank of Portugal, post that she holds to this day.

Romania

Out of all the Member States, Romania was the only one to propose more than one candidate for the Commission, leaving the actual nomination to Brussels. Von der Leyen, in the spirit of gender-balance, elected to nominate Rovana Plumb, recently elected as MEP in the last European elections with the Socialist and Democrats. She has been assigned the role of Commissioner for Transport. 

The nomination has been controversial, since Plumb is no stranger to problems with the law. In October 2017, she narrowly escaped investigation in a corruption case after the Chamber of Deputies voted against lifting her parliamentary immunity, thus not allowing the National Anticorruption Department to carry out its inquiry. 

Moreover, during a first European Parliament hearing last week which aimed to scrutinise candidates’ fitness for office, the Parliament’s Legal Committee (JURI) raised concerns of Plumb possibly having conflicts of interest. In particular, she was called to account for two loans worth nearly €1 million that she did not declare in her original financial statement to the committee. In a second meeting on the 30th September, MEPs officially rejected her nomination as she is “unable to exercise” her functions at transport commissioner due to these conflicts of interest. JURI’s position means that Plumb cannot proceed to her confirmation hearing.

The Romanian government announced former Interior Minister Dan Nica as substitute nominee soon after the confirmation of the existence of Plumb’s conflict of interest. However, Nica has also been investigated for corruption in the past. It is no surprise, then, that von der Leyen has not approved him for the list of hopeful EU commissioners. Following a surprise topple of the government thanks to a successful vote of no-confidence, the new interim government will have is expected to nominate a third potential candidate soon. 

Slovenia 

Janez Lenarčič has served almost uninterruptedly as an independent diplomat since his graduation in 1992. Being experienced both in national and international politics, he has been appointed as Commissioner for Crisis Management.

This area is strongly linked with his past role in the OSCE, which mandates on human rights, arms control, and guarding on fair elections in at-risk countries. In his long-lasting career, Lenarčič, has achieved high honours, such us the Legion d’honneur, the greatest French Award, and being entrusted to represent his country in the Lisbon Treaty negotiations of 2007.

As Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič will be also the European Emergency Response Coordinator, entrusted to swift and strengthen EU’s response all over the globe. He should also enforce national plans to face and prevent emergencies, using to his full extent rescEU, an upgrade of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. In her mission letter, von der Leyen set his role’s focus on the ongoing refugee crisis and the Union’s role as advocate for international humanitarian laws.

Slovakia

The Slovak nominee is, for the third term in a row, Maroš Šefčovič. He has served in the Commission for a decade, starting in 2009 as the Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth (2009–2010), then Vice-President of the Commission for Interinstitutional Relations and Administration (2010–2014), and currently outgoing as Vice-President of the Commission for the Energy Union (since 2014). 

During his previous terms as Commissioner, Šefčovič can be remembered for his long-standing mediation of the standoff over gas supply between Russia and Ukraine. In 2015, he was instrumental in brokering an agreement between 15 Central, Eastern and Southeastern European countries to create a fully-integrated energy market and reduce reliance on Russia. 

His nomination comes as a respite after two unsuccessful campaigns this year, one to become President of Slovakia and the other to be the centre-left candidate for the Commission Presidency. Under von der Leyen, he will be Vice-president for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight. In this position, he will promote dialogue and communication between the Commission and the European Parliament, as well as increasing communication with citizens. 

Finland

Finland’s nomination for the Commission is Jutta Urpilainen, the first woman to be nominated for the Commission by Finland in its 24 years of EU membership. The 44-year-old is a member of Finland’s ruling Suomen sosialidemokraattinen puolue, the Social Democratic Party of Finland.

She performed the role of both Deputy PM and Finance Minister between 2011 and 2014 and was also the Chairperson of the Party between 2008 and 2014. It was in her role as Finance Minister that she first garnered fame beyond Finland’s borders, due to her demands that collateral be exchanged for Finland’s participation in bailouts for other, less frugal, Euro countries. 

While her experience led many to tip her for a financial role in the Commission, she will in fact be taking up the Directorship of the International Cooperation and Development Directorate. In her position as Director General for DEVCO, she will be responsible for helping maximise the efficiency of the EU’s foreign aid programs with a view to eventually eliminating poverty globally. Although not as highly coveted a position as some others, there is room for interesting developments in this area. As the EU takes a more assertive position on the world stage, DEVCO’s remit for encouraging and expanding human rights and democracy world-wide could be part of a wider policy pivot back to soft power projection and democratisation. Only time will tell.

Sweden

Ylva Johansson is at her first international role, after a prestigious yet controversial national career. She started out in politics with the Communist party VPK and later moved to the Social Democrats. The Commissioner hopeful has served in various positions in the government since 1994, spacing from Schools to Employment, going through Welfare and Elderly Healthcare.

Johansson has been assigned the Home Affairs portfolio. In her mission letter, von der Leyen highlighted the centrality of immigration issues in this mandate and, with that, Johansson’s own role to play. The goal in the next few years will be to obtain a New Pact on Migration, in order to close loopholes between asylum and return rules and support the countries which are under the most pressure. She will work alongside with the European Coast Guard Agency to stop human trafficker and smugglers and restore citizen and States trust in the EU and, hopefully, restore a functioning Schengen area. Additionally, she will contribute on the fight against terrorism and radicalisation, both in real life and on the Internet, enforcing communication between European agencies on security.

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