But contrary to her declared desire for gender equality, she has significantly more men than women on her list. All member states have now reported their national Commission candidates to von der Leyen. Belgium was the last to do so on Monday, proposing Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib. At least: one woman. Nevertheless, the overall balance is not very equal. 17 men are compared to a maximum of ten women, so there are almost twice as many men as women.
Ten women in the 27-member “Von der Leyen II” Commission – that would be a women’s quota of a good third and less than in the German’s first term in office. Already included are von der Leyen herself and the future EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas from Estonia, who is also to become Vice-President of the Commission.
Von der Leyen’s call for gender parity has therefore failed in the member states. Only Bulgaria followed her request to nominate one woman and one man for selection, which means that the woman will probably be chosen. Romania also nominated MEP Roxana Minzatu at the last minute instead of the man it had initially favored.
The European Women’s Lobby (EWL), an umbrella organization that campaigns for gender equality in Europe, believes that the emerging “Old Boys’ Club” is “more than embarrassing.” “If the member states really believe that only men are suitable for these positions or that there are no qualified women in their countries, then they not only have no idea, they are delusional,” criticizes association spokeswoman Mirta Baselovic.
Sharp criticism has also come from the European Parliament, which plans to hear the Commission candidates in the coming weeks. The chair of the Equality Committee, Lina Gálvez Muñoz, speaks of a “very bad signal, especially to younger women and girls”. The Spanish social democrat accuses the member states of a lack of political will.
A Brussels diplomat, who does not want to be named, sees a typical Brussels power game between the institutions: “We member states expect von der Leyen to stand up for equality. At the same time, we see it as our sovereign right to propose a suitable commissioner,” he says.
However, von der Leyen has strong leverage, says Paris-based European law expert Alberto Alemanno. She could either reject the list of member states entirely and thereby demonstrate her “independence and autonomy”.
However, the stronger means of pressure are the responsibilities, stresses European law expert Alemanno. Many countries want one of the key positions in Brussels, which include competition policy, the internal market, the economy and currency, or trade. Here, von der Leyen has negotiating leverage with the governments, according to the motto: you just appoint a woman and then you get the desired department in return.
As soon as von der Leyen has nominated her preferred commissioners, the European Parliament can send them questionnaires and then hear them in the specialist committees. In the past, the Parliament has successfully pushed for replacements for some unpopular candidates, even though it can only approve or reject the Commission in its entirety. Before von der Leyen took up her first mandate at the end of 2019, the Parliament rejected a Hungarian and a Romanian due to “conflicts of interest”.
Whether the new Commission will be able to take office on November 1st or whether it will be December 1st or even January 1st is uncertain, partly because of the gender dispute. Von der Leyen’s spokesman Eric Mamer prefers to remain vague: “The President is doing everything in her power to achieve a balanced college.”
