Member States preferred male candidates for the new composition of the Commission

It’s official: all Member States have nominated their candidates to compete for a position in the European Commission. Among the 27 States, only Bulgaria complied with von der Leyen’s request to put forward both a man and a woman, giving her the option to choose between them. She may also push back on some of the male candidates, as she aims to achieve gender balance.

Now, it’s up to the re-elected President of the European Commission to select and assign a portfolio to each commissioner. Let’s take a look at the final candidates for the new Commission structure.

The candidates

Among the 28 individuals who will shape the future European Commission, only 10 are women – a percentage that does not align with Ursula von der Leyen’s goal of gender equity in the new executive. Von der Leyen can still choose to follow her commitment to equality by replacing some of the male candidates to achieve her primary objective of gender balance.

An exception was made for the reconfirmation of some current candidates. This was the case for several countries, including Croatia, which re-nominated Dubravka Šuica, who previously served as Vice-President in the last European Commission; France, which retained Thierry Breton, the current Commissioner for the Internal Market; Hungary, which reappointed Olivér Várhelyi, the Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy; Latvia, which reaffirmed Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis; the Netherlands, which kept Wopke Hoekstra as the current Climate Commissioner; and Slovakia, which reappointed Maroš Šefčovič, the current Executive Vice-President.

For the other 19 candidates, excluding the Estonian Kaja Kallas, elected as EU High Representative for Foreign affairs and Ursula von der Leyen for Germany, 14 of them should be from the EPP, while socialists and liberals should count five candidates each. Raffaele Fitto, the italian commissioner and current italian Europe minister, is the only conservative nominee.

Belgium was the last one to make a nominee for the candidate, deciding for Hadja Lahbib, current Belgian minister of Foreign affairs, while Bulgaria was the only one to respect von der Leyen’s wish to have both a female and a male candidate: Ekaterina Zaharieva, member of the Bulgarian Parliament and Julian Popov, Fellow of the European Climate Foundation.

The remaining countries nominees are:
– Austria nominated its finance minister Magnus Brunner
– Cyprus nominated Costas Kadis
– Czech Republic nominated its trade and industry minister Jozef Síkela
– Denmark nominated its Minister for development cooperation and global climate policy Dan Jørgensen
– Finland nominated an EPP MEP Henna Virkkunen
– Greece nominated Apostolos Tzitzikostas, governor of Central Macedonia
– Ireland nominated its finance minister Michael McGrath
– Lithuania, Luxembourg nominated an EPP MEP: respectively Andrius Kubilius and Christophe Hansen
– Malta nominated Prime Minister Robert Abela’s adviser on EU affairs Glenn Micallef
– Poland nominated its ambassador to the EU Piotr Serafin
– Portugal nominated a member of the National Council of the Portuguese Social Democratic Party Maria Luís Albuquerque
– Romania nominated a S&D MEP Roxana MÎnzatu
– Slovenia nominated Tomaž Vesel, former president of the Slovenian court of auditors
– Spain nominated its deputy prime minister and minister for the ecological transition Teresa Ribera
– Sweden nominated its minister for EU affairs Jessika Roswall

Following steps

After von der Leyen assigns the portfolios, each Commissioner-designate is expected to undergo hours-long questioning by the European Parliament in late September and October. It’s common for at least one commissioner not to pass the scrutiny (in the last round, three did not). The Parliament has requested a complete chart of all 27 commissioners and their roles before the hearings begin, preparing for four-hour sessions with questions organized by political groups.