The ‘casting’ for the future European College of Commissioners was completed on Monday 2 September after Belgium nominated its candidate in the person of the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hadja Lahbib, thus ruling out the name of the current European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders.
On X, Georges-Louis Bouchez, President of the Mouvement Réformateur (MR), from which the candidate hails, explained that “this appointment reflects a desire for feminisation and renewal at both party and public structure level. It also marks recognition of Hadja’s brilliant work in managing Belgium’s Presidency of the European Union”.
For its part, the Romanian government also announced on 2 September that it had changed its choice and in the end had nominated a female candidate in the person of MEP Roxana Mînzatu (S&D), instead of S&D MEP Victor Negrescu.
With these two appointments, the next College of Commissioners - if all the proposed names were confirmed by the European Parliament - would include 10 women out of 27.
Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen is due to present the composition of her College to the European Parliament group chairs on Wednesday11 September. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)