Ursula von der Leyen unveils new European Commission team

The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has presented her proposed new team of commissioners after negotiations with the EU’s member states.

The European Commission is the EU’s equivalent of a cabinet, and each commissioner is responsible for a different portfolio.

Out of a total of 26 proposed commissioners, 10 are women and 16 are men.

When she was elected European Commission president for a second five-year term in July, Ms von der Leyen asked member countries to put forward two names, a man and a woman, as candidates.

However, few countries initially heeded her call.

“When I received the first nominations… we had a share of 22% women and 78% men,” she said, adding that this was “completely unacceptable”.

Ms von der Leyen said that after working with member states she was able to improve the share to 40% women and 60% men. “As much as we have achieved there is still so much more work to do,” she added.

The unveiling of Ms von der Leyen’s proposed top team follows a number of weeks of horse-trading.

Powerful posts have gone to candidates hailing from across the political spectrum. Spain’s Teresa Ribera, a socialist, France’s Stéphane Séjourné, a liberal, and Raffaele Fitto, a member of Italy’s far-right Brothers of Italy, are all set to become executive vice-presidents in charge of key economic portfolios.

Although commissioners’ portfolios are meant to be independent of their home countries, this often is not the case, and member states vie for their candidates to occupy prestigious posts.

And on Monday, France’s powerful former internal market commissioner Thierry Breton resigned in dramatic fashion.

With a letter posted on X, he accused Ms von der Leyen of scheming against him by promising French President Emmanuel Macron a more prestigious portfolio for France in exchange for sidelining Mr Breton.

All of Ms von der Leyen’s picks will now need to be vetted by committees and approved by the Parliament.

There is no guarantee all the proposed commissioners will survive the process.

The European Parliament’s Socialists and Democrats, for instance, have already signalled that Italy’s Raffaele Fitto, who is close to right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, “does not meet the demands of our political family”, while French MEP Valérie Hayer, leader of the EU Liberals, said her party would make “real demands” of Mr Fitto during the vetting process.

The new Commission is set to take office before the end of the year.