The President-elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is continuing in her work to ensure that the new College will take up its duties, which is expected to take place on 1st December. On Monday, 28 October, she will meet with the candidate Commissioners of France, Thierry Breton, and Hungary, Olivér Várhelyi; she is also looking forward to the nomination of the candidate from Romania.
According to our information, the newly appointed Romanian Prime Minister, Ludovic Orban, intends to prioritise this issue as soon as he has formed his government. To this end, its ministers must be heard by the Romanian parliament from 28 October, with the possibility of a vote of confidence on 30 October. At the last European summit, Ludovic Orban informed his counterparts that he would try to nominate a female candidate for this position.
Parity at risk
Mrs von der Leyen really needs female candidates, since she set herself a goal of sexual parity when she set up her team.
In order to replace their respective unsuccessful candidates, László Trócsányi and Sylvie Goulard—Hungary and France respectively—have each proposed a man: the Hungarian Ambassador to the EU on behalf of Budapest, and the business leader and former Minister Thierry Breton on behalf of Paris.
If they successfully overcome the obstacle of the hearings in the European Parliament, the 'von der Leyen' European Commission will include 15 men compared to 11 women. A Romanian (and perhaps British) candidate could help to narrow this gap.
When EUROPE asked whether Mrs von der Leyen had renounced her goal of parity, the European Commission spokesperson replied: "Ursula von der Leyen fully respected her own goal of gender parity when she presented her College on 10 September. It was the European Parliament that rejected three candidates, two of which were women. That said, it is still the Commission with the largest number of women [if the situation does not change; Editor's note]. The process, however, is still ongoing," commented Mina Andreeva, adding that the future president "would regret it if, as part of this process, parity were to be put at risk”.
Parliament's timetable remains unclear
At this stage, the European Parliament's timetable has not yet been decided. As a first step, the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) will have to analyse the declarations of interest of the three Commissioners-designate in order that the relevant parliamentary committees can then hold hearings.
Parliament might well decide to wait for news from Bucharest before launching the process. In any case, the next meeting of the JURI Committee is scheduled for 6 and 7 November. We have been informed, however, that an extraordinary session could be convened, if necessary. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)