Brussels, 28/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - With only 13 commissioners officially designated, Jean-Claude Juncker's future team is taking shape very slowly and is facing a number of obstacles, relating both to issues of gender and to those nominated
The team is not yet shaping up the way Juncker wants it to in terms of female representation with only one woman, Vera Jourova, so far being confirmed by the government of her country, the Czech Republic. The incoming president of the European Commission has a number of tricky problems to solve after the recent European summit failed to agree on who should become the new EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, who will also be a European Commission vice-president.
On Sunday 27 July, Athens decided to send its defence minister, Dimitris Avramopoulos, to Brussels. He is a stalwart of the prime minister, Antonis Samaras. With Greece having chosen a man, the hopes for gender equality among commissioners now rests with those member states that have not yet made up their minds, such as France, which has not yet officially chosen between former economy minister Pierre Moscovici and former justice minister Elisabeth Guigou.
The nomination of the Greek commissioner means that 13 possible commissioners have now been officially confirmed, half of them from the EPP: Jyrki Katainen of Finland, Günther Oettinger of Germany, Johannes Hahn of Austria, Valdis Dombrovskis of Latvia and Phil Hogan of Ireland. Four are from the PES: Maros Sefcovic of Slovakia, Neven Mimica of Croatia, Vytenis Andriukaitis of Lithuania and Karmenu Vella of Malta. Two are from the ALDE: Andrus Ansip of Estonia and Vera Jourova of the Czech Republic. The United Kingdom's Jonathan Hill is from the AECR (Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists), the party of the British Conservatives. Former Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos (of the EPP) is favourite to become the new Romanian commissioner, but a formal decision has not yet been taken.
Three days to find 8 women
The Juncker Commission in its current configuration would not be endorsed by the European Parliament, which wants as many women commissioners - nine - as in the second Barroso Commission. Juncker has pledged the have a team with nine women and has asked the member states to submit candidates by 31 July. That means there are only three days left for the president-designate to fined eight women, which looks like a big ask. Highest hopes are with Bulgaria, whose current commissioner is Kristalina Georgieva, and Sweden, with current commissioner Cecilia Malmström, along with countries that have not yet decided, such as Belgium (which is hesitating between Karel de Gucht and Marianne Thyssen). If Poland were not to choose Radoslaw Sikorski or Janusz Lewandoski, then it might choose former commissioner Danuta Hübner. There is uncertainty over the choices of Denmark, Slovenia and Portugal (although Lisbon may go for a woman).
The Mogherini equation
Juncker has another problem, which is Italy's Federica Mogherini as a candidate to replace Catherine Ashton as EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, with the backing of the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, despite the cold water thrown on his hopes at the European summit on 16 July. The member states refused to endorse her candidacy without the full package of Commission appointments and the Italian Social Democrat's appointment was criticised by eastern European countries, which see her as too conciliatory towards Russia. She does not have Juncker's full support either. In an interview with newspaper Le Quotidien on Sunday 27 July, he said that that the views and weight of these eastern European countries needed to be taken into account.
The Italian media say Juncker and Renzi spoke by phone on Friday 24 July about Mogherini's candidacy and Juncker expressed concern about the fact that, if Italy continued to insist on Mogherini, it might have to put up with a less powerful job at the Commission. Those close to Juncker confirm that the conversation took place and say that the deadline given to Italy for deciding on its commissioner was 31 July. But it is not until 30 August that the EU28 will meet again to decide on the future EU high representative. Renzi has three days to decide whether to stick with Mogherini and run the risk of getting a less prestigious job or to choose another candidate. In June, some in the Italian media reported rumours that Van Rompuy would like to see former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta as his replacement at the European Council, but the Italian press says Renzi does not want the former PM back at the helm.
Will dates of hearings be kept?
Will this uncertainty force the European Parliament to delay its hearings with the new commissioners, currently scheduled for the second fortnight of September? The official timetable has not changed. At the end of August or start of September, the president of the Commission will unveil his team of commissioners and Juncker's team says that means it will be possible to have the hearings in mid-September, the vote on the full College in plenary in October and for the new Commission to start work on 1 November. (SP)