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The new college is entrusted with exploring already defined EU-wide core priorities built on prosperity, security, democracy and competitiveness during 2024-29. Alongside the twin transition, these priorities are intertwined and cross-cutting, noted the Commission’s president.
Background
Among some of the main highlights from Ursula von der Leyen’s new team of European Commissioners (unveiled on 17.09.2024), after months of waiting, controversy and last-minute changes, there are the following mentioned by Politico:
= Supporting Ukraine, future enlargement and the “eastern corridor’s” are the long-term priorities: nominees from the Baltics got key portfolios in handling the relationship with Russia. In addition to Estonian Kaja Kallas being the EU’s foreign policy chief, Lithuanian Andrius Kubilius will be in charge of the newly created defense portfolio (he will report to Finland’s commissioner, Executive Vice President for Tech, Sovereignty, Security and Democracy Henna Virkkunen.
= Von der Leyen would keep control over the EU budget: the key budget portfolio goes to Poland’s Piotr Serafin; as the EU is proceeding with a strategic combat over the next seven-year spending plan, each country wants to see its own priorities reflected. However, Mr. Serafin will report directly to von der Leyen (instead of to one of the executive vice presidents), giving the President direct control over the budget.
= The President has managed to create a gender balance in her team: presently (that is before the final decision is taken after the Parliament approves the nominations), there are 11 women in the College, which is 40 percent of the total; initially there were 22 percent of women and 78 percent of men. It was regarded unacceptable; the Commission “worked” with the member states to “improve the balance” to 40 percent women and 60 percent men. Among six Executive Vice-presidents there are four women and two men: three are from the member states that joined the EU before the fall of the Iron Curtain, and three are from the states that “joined after Europe was reunited”: i.e. from the Baltic states, Nordic countries and Eastern Europe (among them are former ministers and prime ministers. Source: Commission press release in https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/da/ip_24_4723
= The new College’s structure gives southern member states an important role in the bloc’s competitiveness push with a number of high economic portfolios: Italy will be in charge of the EU’s vast cohesion fund wallet, Portugal will be in charge of financial services (a key job amid a push to reform the EU’s capital markets), while Spain’s Teresa Ribera will get oversight of the EU’s powerful competition enforcement tools.
Source and reference: https://www.politico.eu/article/5-takeaways-ursula-von-der-leyen-new-commission-eu-gender-balance-top-officials/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=alert&utm_campaign=5%20takeaways%20on%20von%20der%20Leyen%E2%80%99s%20new%20Commission
The present priorities have been instigated by the recent recommendation from the Draghi report, which included such items as, e.g. strengthening European tech-sovereignty, security and democracy; so-to-say, building a competitive, decarbonised and circular economy, with a fair transition for all. Besides, the ideas of designing a bold industrial strategy with innovation and investment, followed by boosting European cohesion and regions, supporting new skills and the EU-wide “social model” are dominating in priorities.
More in: https://www.integrin.dk/2024/09/09/eu-wide-competitiveness-challenges-and-perspectives-in-draghi-report/ , and in: https://www.integrin.dk/2024/09/03/new-commissions-college-team-the-eu-wide-sectoral-ministers/.
The nominees for the team
= Teresa Ribera will be Executive Vice-President of a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition; she will also be responsible for competition policy. She will guide the work to ensure that the goals of the European Green Deal, regional decarbonization and industrialization processes are fulfilled.
= Henna Virkkunen will be the Executive Vice-President for Tech-Sovereignty, Security and Democracy; she will also be responsible for the portfolio on digital and frontier technologies coped with the internal/external aspects of security and the rule of law.
= Stéphane Séjourné will be the Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy; he will also be responsible for the industrial policy, the SMEs and the Single Market, including investment and innovation’s role in economic stability, trade and economic security.
= Kaja Kallas will be the High Representative and Vice-President; the position reflects the EU’s role in an era of geostrategic rivalries and instability; the EU foreign and security policy must be designed with these realities and must be more aligned with the EU’s interests.
= Roxana Mînzatu will be the Executive Vice-President for People, Skills and “preparedness”; she will have the responsibility for skills, education and culture, quality jobs and social rights, the issues are under the umbrella of demography.
= Raffaele Fitto will be Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms; he will be responsible for the portfolio dealing with cohesion policy, regional development and cities.
Among other Commissioners there are the following candidates:
= Maroš Šefčovič, who will perform two roles: as a Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security (it is a new portfolio which also includes customs policy), and as a Commissioner for Inter-institutional Relations and Transparency (in the second role, he will report directly to President).
= Valdis Dombrovskis will also have a double role: a) as Commissioner for Economy and Productivity; and b) as Commissioner for Implementation and Simplification (he will also report directly to the President).
= Dubravka Šuica will be the Commissioner for the Mediterranean; she will also be responsible for the wider southern neighbourhood and she will work closely with Kaja Kallas and other Commissioners to develop EU’s shared interests with the region.
= Olivér Várhely will be Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare; he will be responsible for building the European Health Union and continuing the work on beating cancer and on preventive health.
= Wopke Hoekstra will be the Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth; he will continue to work on implementation and adaptation, on climate diplomacy and decarbonisation as well as being responsible for taxation.
= Andrius Kubilius will be the Commissioner for Defence and Space; he will work on developing the European Defence Union and boosting EU’s investment and industrial capacity.
= Marta Kos, will be Commissioner for Enlargement and also responsible for the Eastern neighbourhood. She will work on supporting Ukraine and continuing the work on reconstruction, and support candidate countries to prepare them for accession.
= Jozef Síkela will be the Commissioner for International Partnerships; he will lead the work on Global Gateway and ensure the developing of mutually beneficial partnerships and investment.
= Costas Kadis will be the Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans to creating a resilient, competitive and sustainable sector with the presentation of the first European Oceans Pact.
= Maria Luís Albuquerque will be the Commissioner for Financial Services and the Savings and Investment Union; it is a vital position to strengthen and complete the Capital Markets Union and ensure that private investment powers productivity and innovation in the states.
= Hadja Lahbib will be the Commissioner for Preparedness and Crisis Management; it is another new portfolio which will look at resilience, preparedness and civil protection; she will be responsible for leading the EU efforts on crisis management and humanitarian aid.
= Magnus Brunner will be the Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration; he will focus on the implementation of the Pact on Asylum and Migration, as well as on strengthening the EU borders and developing a new internal security strategy.
= Jessika Roswall will be the Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy; she will help preserving the environment and put nature on the balance sheet. She will help develop a more circular and more competitive economy coped with the work on water resilience which is a big priority for the years ahead.
= Piotr Serafin will be the Commissioner for Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration, with a focus on preparing the next long-term budget (he will report directly to President).
= Dan Jørgensen will be the Commissioner for Energy and Housing to bring down energy prices, invest in clean energy and ensure that the member states cut energy’s dependency. Besides, he will be the first ever Commissioner for Housing with the task of looking at all aspects from energy efficiency to investment and construction.
= Ekaterina Zaharieva will be Commissioner for Research and Innovation. She will help ensure that the states invest more and focus spending on strategic priorities and on groundbreaking innovation: research and innovation, science and technology shall be at the centre of EU’s economic development.
= Michael McGrath will be Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law; he will “take forward” the European Democracy Shield and lead the EU work on the rule of law, anti-corruption and consumer protection.
= Apostolos Tzitzikostas will be Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, as well as for the EU-wide “transitions”, for connecting people and driving local economies.
= Christophe Hansen will be the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food; he will have the task to bring to life the report and recommendations of the Strategic Dialogue to develop a Vision for Agriculture and Food in the first 100 days of the mandate.
= Glenn Micallef will be Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Culture, Youth and Sport. Intergenerational fairness is a cross cutting topic which affects citizens, especially young people. It is about the right balance in a society.
Note. The European Parliament still has to grill and approve the future commissioners; some more info on the new College’s people in the Politico’s article: https://www.politico.eu/article/meet-european-commissioner-class-2024-ursula-von-der-leyen/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=alert&utm_campaign=Everything%20you%20need%20to%20know%20about%20all%2027%20European%20commissioners
Besides, as is known for those working in “high-bureaucracy” circles, the real power is rarely breaking down evenly: it is important who is working for whom! The preliminary scheme is presentment in the Politico’s draft:
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-power-structure-ursula-von-der-leyen-team/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=alert&utm_campaign=Who%20works%20for%20who%20in%20the%20new%20EU%20power%20structure