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All EU-27 member states have made their candidates for the Commissioners’ position; and all of them, except Commission’s President (she was approved earlier) need to be approved by the European Parliament. Some countries have suggested two candidates (a man and a woman), as the Commission promised to have the gender equality: however, so far the gender balance is not reached: there are still mote men (17) compared to ten women. Quite notable: some candidates have been already serving in the Commission.
The candidates for a new College
The following is a list of the possible Commission’s College team by the countries that nominated them, in alphabetical order:
= Austria – Magnus Brunner, presently Austrian finance minister
= Belgium – Hadja Lahbib, country’s minister of foreign affairs
= Bulgaria – presented two candidates: Ekaterina Zaharieva, the member of Bulgarian parliament, and Julian Popov, currently a fellow of the European Climate Foundation
= Croatia – Dubravka Šuica, presently the European Commissioner for democracy and demography
= Cyprus – Costas Kadis, presently acting dean at the School of Health Sciences at Frederick University in Cyprus (previously served as Cyprus’ minister of health, education and culture, and agriculture and environment)
= Czech Republic – Jozef Síkela, currently the country’s minister for industry and trade
= Denmark – Dan Jørgensen, presently the national minister for development cooperation and global climate policy
= Estonia – Kaja Kallas, she used to be the country’s prime minister; this July she was chosen by the EU leaders as the Union’s next foreign policy chief
= Finland – Henna Virkkunen, presently a member of the European Parliament
= France – Thierry Breton, currently the European Commissioner for internal market and services
= Greece – Apostolos Tzitzikostas, presently the Governor of Central Macedonia, a Greek region
= Hungary – Olivér Várhelyi, currently the European Commissioner for neighborhood and enlargement
= Ireland – Michael McGrath, presently the Irish finance minister
= Italy – Raffaele Fitto, presently, the Italian Europe minister
= Latvia- Valdis Dombrovskis, currently serving as the European Commission executive vice president for economy and trade
= Lithuania – Andrius Kubilius, the member of the European Parliament, MEP since 2019; all MEPs nominated for the new College have to abandon their sits in the Parliament.
= Luxembourg – Christophe Hansen, the member of the European Parliament
= Malta – Glenn Micallef, presently the country’s Prime Minister Robert Abela’s adviser on EU affairs, and serving as the PM’s adviser for four years
= The Netherlands – Wopke Hoekstra, serving as the European Commissioner for climate action; the country wants him to take the position of financial/economic affairs
= Poland – Piotr Serafin, presently Poland’s ambassador to the EU; Mr. Serafin will replace Janusz Wojciechowski, Poland’s current European commissioner.
= Portugal – Maria Luís Albuquerque, currently serving on the supervisory board at Morgan Stanley Europe and the advisory boards of several Portuguese universities; she is also a member of the National Council of the Portuguese Social Democratic Party
= Romania – Roxana Mînzatu, presently the member of the European Parliament
= Slovakia – Maroš Šefčovič, currently the European Commission executive vice president for the European Green Deal and inter-institutional relations
= Slovenia – Tomaž Vesel, lawyer, former president of the Slovenian court of auditors
= Spain – Teresa Ribera, currently Spain’s deputy prime minister and minister for the ecological transition
= Sweden – Jessika Roswall, presently the country’s minister for the European affairs
Source and reference in: https://www.politico.eu/article/ursula-von-der-leyen-european-commission-names-so-far-kadis-breton-kallas/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=alert&utm_campaign=The%20full%20lineup%20for%20the%20new%20EU%20Commission
Note. In the Politico’s website one can find short bio for the candidates; also some info on the candidates in: https://www.integrin.dk/2024/08/21/choosing-leaders-in-the-european-political-economy/