European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday (17 September) unveiled her plan to divide responsibilities among the European Union’s next crop of commissioners. 

Von der Leyen surprised EU watchers by proposing Romania’s Roxana Mînzatu and Finland’s Henna Virkkunen for vice-presidential roles, while sending three incumbents back to more junior positions. Two are Commission veterans: Slovakia’s Maroš Šefčovič and Latvia’s Valdis Dombrovskis. Croatia’s Dubravka Šuica was also demoted. 

Three others in line for top vice-presidential jobs were anticipated: Spain’s Teresa Ribera and Italy’s Raffaele Fitto, as well as France’s Stéphane Séjourné. Completing the group of six vice-presidents is Estonia’s Kaja Kallas, who was already picked by EU governments as the bloc’s top diplomat. 

At a press conference in Strasbourg, von der Leyen told reporters that the backdrop” she had discussed with her new team, as well as leaders in the European Parliament on Tuesday morning, is “competitiveness in the twin transition.”  

The two priorities “are very much intertwined and cross-cutting” and “built around prosperity, security, democracy,” von der Leyen said. 

All von der Leyen’s picks for executive vice-president (EVPs) – as well as the rest of the policy portfolios – will need to be approved by the Parliament. 

True to her commitment to gender parity, von der Leyen eventually picked four women and two men to serve as EVPs, who are due to oversee policy ‘clusters’, working in partnership with junior commissioners.  

The Commission chief tackled the EU executive’s gender balance at the outset. After weeks of intense negotiations, she managed to boost the number of women to 11, or 40% of the commissioners, up from the initial 22%, according to von der Leyen’s numbers.  

Spain’s current Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, secured an EVP position focused on green transition, competition and competitiveness.  

In an unexpected turn, Finland’s Henna Virkkunen, from von der Leyen’s centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), is due to be responsible for tech sovereignty, security and democracy.   

As previously reported by Euractiv, Italian ECR nominee Raffaele Fitto has secured an Executive Vice President role and a portfolio focusing on cohesion and reforms.  

Fitto will now face a challenging parliamentary grilling, as opposition to his appointment to a senior post remains strong from various political parties across the spectrum. “The importance of Italy is reflected in the Portfolio that was given to the country,” von der Leyen said during the press conference.  

Long road ahead 

Von der Leyen’s announcement was only the first step in the commissioner-designates’ pathway to securing the role. But the next step – confirmation hearings in the Parliament – cannot begin until all nominations are in. As of Tuesday’s announcement, the formal papers for Slovenia’s Marta Kos remain held up in the national parliament. 

In von der Leyen’s first Commission, a range of executive vice-presidents managed clusters of vice president and junior commissioners.  

While getting rid of the two-tier vice-presidents, the president is set to keep the EVPs in charge of a group of commissioners, under a specific policy area. Nevertheless, von der Leyen managed to then double the number of executive vice presidents in her new College.

The presented structure did not make immediately clear which commissioner will report to which EVP.

[Edited by Owen Morgan]

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