Ursula von der Leyen’s EU Commission sausage fest

Who run the world? Boys (in the EU’s case).
Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission’s first-ever female president, is being forced to watch on as governments flatly ignore her request that they each nominate a man and a woman so she can build a gender-balanced 26-person team.
As things stand, countries have put forward 16 men for posts in von der Leyen’s next College of Commissioners, the executive team that projects the image of the European Union to the world and runs key sectors including competition, trade and digital policy.
That’s compared to just five women (including von der Leyen herself) — or six if you include Spain’s expected pick Teresa Ribera, who is yet to be officially nominated.
Two moves Thursday tipped the scales further, as Romania confirmed it would nominate Victor Negrescu, then Luxembourg put forward Christophe Hansen for the plum role. If Denmark and Italy follow suit by naming men, as they are widely expected to do, it would become likely that two-thirds of the EU’s 27 commissioners will be male.
Leaders of EU countries have dismissed von der Leyen’s request for a choice, instead defiantly presenting her with a fait accompli and leaving the Commission chief almost powerless.
The likes of Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris have reminded von der Leyen that they are only obliged under the EU’s treaties to propose a single name to Brussels.
The only real lever von der Leyen has to pull in response is the portfolio she assigns them. But there are too many men for them all to get weak portfolios.
The gender balance could still change, however. The entire 27-person College of Commissioners must be approved in a single vote by the European Parliament, after all commissioners except von der Leyen undergo a grilling by MEPs this fall, raising the prospect that some male candidates could be rejected.
EU officials hope the new Commission can be up and running by November.
Though the Commission itself has spent the past three weeks refusing to comment, figures outside the Brussels executive are now publicly questioning the male-nomination trend.
Lina Gálvez, a Spanish MEP chairing the women’s rights and gender equality committee, told POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook: “I think this is really bad news and I think member states should really do what Ursula von der Leyen asked them for, which is give two names.”
The Parliament’s internal rules specifically say MEPs should pay “particular” attention to gender balance when it comes to assessing the commissioner candidates in the upcoming hearings this fall.
Does that mean the Parliament is about to start rejecting male candidates to even things up? That’s “very difficult,” Gálvez said, instead calling for more pressure on national governments from the Commission, Parliament and civil society.
“The ‘weak’ male candidates will have a hard time in the European Parliament and many will likely get turned down” to get a gender-balanced Commission College, Austrian Socialist MEP Andreas Schieder predicted.
The Parliament, however, ignored its own gender-balance rules when doling out top committee jobs after this election earlier this summer.
Germany’s Europe Minister Anna Lührmann, a Green politician, raised the alarm too, calling on von der Leyen to get tough.
“The new Commission must not become a men’s committee,” she told POLITICO’s Berlin Playbook. “Equal representation of women and men is in keeping with the times. Von der Leyen must stand for this now!”
Jéromine Andolfatto, policy and campaign officer at the European Women’s Lobby, said the dearth of female nominees is out of step with the EU’s legal commitments to gender equality.
“If you’re not having a College of Commissioners which is representative of society, how can you ensure that you have representative policy making?” Andolfatto wondered.
Hans von der Burchard and Max Griera contributed to this report.