Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s proposed list of Commissioners-candidate has been adopted by the Council but may face hurdles in the hearings in the Parliament.
She presented the planned structure of the new college at her meeting with the Conference of Presidents of the political groups in the European Parliament on Tuesday (17 September). In her press statement, she outlined the priorities of the new Commission and the tasks of Commissioners-designate and their portfolios.
She also underlined the importance of competitiveness, referring to the report by former European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi.
“Together, we have defined core priorities. They are built around prosperity, security, democracy. The backdrop is: competitiveness in the twin transition, and they are very much intertwined and cross-cutting. The whole college is committed to competitiveness! We have dissipated the former rigid stovepipes.”
At a technical briefing, s senior Commission official added decarbonization of the economy and the fight against climate change to the list of priorities. He clarified that the files of the new Commissioners are very much linked and based on a holistic approach. Every candidate has received a mission letter from the President, including a common part for all and details about each-one’s specific tasks.
The President can still review the structure, he said, and added that the upcoming hearings in the Parliament will be tough. As already reported, some of von der Leyen’s choices have already attracted criticisms over possible conflicts of interest, far-right ties and revolving doors.
Did the Commission vet all candidates before selecting them? “The same procedure applies to all Commissioners,” Commission deputy chief spokesperson Arianna Podesta told The Brussels Times. “They are all subject to declaration of interest and to the European Parliament scrutiny. This holds true for the present Commission and will also apply to the future College.”
Gender equality not achieved
President von der Leyen admitted in her statement that full gender equality was not achieved in her proposal. “As you will see, we now have 11 women in the College I propose today. That is 40%. When I received the first set of nominations and candidates, we were on track for around 22% women and 78% men.”
“That was unacceptable. So, I worked with the Member States and we were able to improve the balance to 40% women and 60% men. And it shows that - as much as we have achieved - there is still so much more work to do.” With this in mind, she assigned six Executive Vice-presidents, for of which are women.
There will also be a dedicated Commissioner for Equality. The Belgian foreign minister Hadja Lahbib was given the double portfolio of Preparedness and Crisis Management, and Equality. The European Women’s Lobby fears that Equality will just become a footnote in an already overloaded portfolio.
Lahbib is expected to develop many policies, including a road map for women’s rights, a new gender equality strategy, a new anti-racism strategy, implementation of rights belonging to minorities and people with disabilities, and spearhead the strategy for Roma rights. Last but not the least, she is also tasked to develop a new strategy to support medical counter measures against public health threats.
Overlap in Animal Welfare
Animal welfare NGOs were overall satisfied that the Commission at last had decided to propose a dedicated Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare. “We congratulate Olivér Várhelyi on his nomination as Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare,” said Joe Moran, Director of FOUR PAWS Brussels.
“The inclusion of animal welfare in the title is most welcome and hope this is an indication that animal welfare will be treated as a priority matter in all upcoming deliberations within the new framework. Not least, we expect this ambition to be matched with the necessary resources moving forward.”
The senior EU official said that Várhelyi, a Hungarian lawyer and diplomat, had delivered as Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement and has a background in the new files he will take over.
However, while Animal welfare was added to Health, it is hardly mentioned in Várhelyi’s mission letter. Is there an overlap with the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, who will be in charge of bringing forward the recommendations of the strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture?
“The relevance of animal welfare is already a topic of relevance for this and next Commission,” the spokesperson replied. “The mission letter outlines the direction and is the main reference we can provide at this stage. It’s natural that topics that are of relevance for the Commission are allocated to different portfolios. Coordination has to be a key element in next Commission.”
Spirit of collegiality
The common part of all mission letters stress that the college will work towards European unity at every turn. Does it imply that diverging opinions are discouraged?
“To the contrary, the spirit of collegiality refers to common agreement on the way forward, to ownership of decision making by each member of the College, and to equality among the various Commissioners.”
President von der Leyen expects every Member of College to take full ownership of what is agreed. Every Member of College is equal and every Member will have an equal responsibility to deliver on the Commission’s priorities. She expects cooperation at all levels and for the Commissioners to take an active role across all priorities and to facilitate access for colleagues to their services.
The senior EU official did not think that the new complicated structure will give more power to the President. “There is only one decision body, the College, but we’ll try to improve how it works.”
The Commission is responsible for planning, preparing and proposing new European legislation but the Parliament has also a right to propose legislation, according to Article 225 in the EU treaty. In her mission letters, the President encourages the new Commissioners to strengthen the relations with the Parliament on Article 225 resolutions calling for new legislation. How will this work?
In the previous mandate period, the Parliament initiated 25 legislative proposals according to Article 225, the spokesperson replied, and all but one was accepted by the Commission.
This will be part of the Commission’s work in ensuring transparency and information flow with the Parliament and Council, notably before major events and at key stages about international negotiations. “The practical aspects of this will be defined in the working methods, which will be presented at start of the new mandate.”
Citizen participation
On the other hand, European Citizens’ Initiatives (ECIs) - which empowers citizens to propose new legislation – was not mentioned at all in the mission letters. The citizens committee behind the ECI ‘End of cage age’ has sued the Commission on a breach of commitment.
“The European Citizens Initiatives are an important tool”, Arianna Podesta replied, and referred to numerous references in the mission letters to the relevance of citizens involvement. Among others the Commission will organise a first edition of the annual Youth Policy Dialogues within the first 100 days so that young people can be heard and can help shape your work.
The Commission will also build on the Conference on the Future of Europe “to instil a true and lasting culture of participative democracy. We will choose policy areas and proposals where recommendations from a European Citizens’ Panel would have the greatest value and follow up on their proposals.”
Some candidates have been allocated competencies that appear belonging to the member states. How will the Commission ensure that this will not infringe on the subsidiarity principle (not acting in areas which fall under the competency of the Member States, unless the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by them)?
The mission letters require the Commissioners to ensure the principles of proportionality, subsidiarity and Better Regulation are respected, including through wide consultations and impact assessments. The Commission will act within its competence, in full respect of subsidiarity. “The Commission has an important role of coordination and sharing of best practices that can be carried out in all areas.”
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
