In line with her objective of gender parity within her future team, the President-elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, favoured Adina-Ioana Vălean as the European Commissioner for Transport on Wednesday 6 November.
Ms Vălean, who currently chairs the European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), has “gathered experience with topics related to the Transport portfolio”, confirmed a Commission spokesperson. As rapporteur on the Connecting Europe Facility, “she worked on connected cars and decarbonisation of vehicles”, he added.
On Wednesday, Ms von der Leyen interviewed Ms Vălean and Siegfried Mureșan, Vice-President of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, whose name had been proposed by Ludovic Orban’s new Romanian government to sit on the Commission.
The President-elect had already proposed the Transport portfolio to Romania's previous Commissioner-designate, Rovana Plumb, whose candidature had been rejected by the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) for potential conflicts of interest (see EUROPE 12338/9).
As a result, it seems that the Enlargement portfolio belongs to Hungary's Commissioner-designate, Olivér Várhelyi, even though the Commission has not officially communicated on the subject.
In order for the von der Leyen Commission to take office at the beginning of December, the European Parliament’s vote on the whole College is expected to take place on Wednesday 27 November in Strasbourg. Beforehand, the JURI Committee will have to examine the declaration of financial interests of the Commissioners-designate, a preliminary step to holding hearings in Parliament by the competent committees in mid-November.
What about the United Kingdom? There’s still the British unknown. If the von der Leyen Commission starts its mandate prior to Brexit, London will have to suggest names for a European Commissioner.
On Wednesday, Ms von der Leyen wrote to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson formally asking him to nominate a candidate, said Dana Spinant, spokesperson for the President-elect. The President would like “particularly a female candidate” from the United Kingdom, she even added.
Last week, Julian King, who handles internal security issues in the Juncker Commission, said he had not been contacted by the British government to stay in place. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion and Solenn Paulic)