The new Commission is set to be dominated (once again) by men, despite President Ursula von der Leyen’s attempt to achieve parity or at least some balance. A letter from the German People’s Party sent to all governments this summer asked them to submit two candidates, one man and one woman, but in the end most capitals ignored the request and only nine women were proposed in total.
Without her letter and her pressure, “in addition to the High Representative and me, the leaders of the 25 member states would have nominated four women and 21 men. So without that letter and without that discussion, this would be the next college,” von der Leyen claimed today (Wednesday 4 September) speaking to journalists.
Ten women out of 26 commissioners
At the moment, only ten of the candidates to join the 26-member EU executive team are women, an improvement from earlier this week. On Monday, Romania replaced the name of Socialist MEP Victor Negrescu with that of his colleague Roxana Mînzatu. On the same day, Belgian interim Prime Minister Alexander De Croo formally nominated Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib.
The difficult game for gender equality in Europe
The other women will be the Spanish Teresa Ribera, current Minister of Ecological Transition, the Swedish Jessika Roswall, Minister of European Affairs, the Finnish MEP Henna Virkkunen, the Croatian Dubravka Suica, outgoing commissioner, the Portuguese Maria Luís Albuquerque and the Bulgarian MEP Ekaterina Zaharieva, proposed by Sofia together with Julian Popov. They are joined by the High Representative, already proposed by the European Council (her choice is the prerogative of the heads of state and government), Kaja Kallas, the former Estonian Prime Minister. In total 10 (with von der Leyen 11) out of 27 members of the college, just over a third.
A tough journey
“I have fought all my political life for women to have access to decision-making positions and leadership positions,” the Commission president claimed, arguing that “it is a tough journey, without a doubt.”
“The process is ongoing. The presence of women is now in double figures, but I have not seen all the potential candidates. I have discussed with all the heads of state and government the different names, the different possibilities. And of course, I recognize that sometimes it is difficult for the heads of state and government. For example, if there is a commission and then a parliamentary process that has already taken place, it is not easy. Sometimes the man is more qualified than the woman. Sometimes it is the other way around. And I also had the situation where the evening before the nomination, the woman who was qualified and would have been nominated, crossed out and did not want to accept the job”, concluded von der Leyen.
