Von der Leyen claimed that without her efforts, the next “college” of European Commissioners would have been dominated by men.
Ursula von der Leyen This Wednesday he expressed his exasperation after EU capitals undermined her efforts to ensure a gender-balanced “college” of Commissioners tasked with leading the work of the powerful executive arm of the EU for the next five years.
In a letter sent in July to the Heads of State and Government, Commissioner explicitly requested two candidates, one male and one femalefor the position of European Commissioner.
An unattended request
Only one Member State, Bulgariahas responded to that request, which lacked legal weight. Von der Leyen has since engaged in talks with many smaller Member States to replace their male candidates with women. The list of candidates who aspire to be part of Von der Leyen’s team is nine women and 17 men.
“Throughout my entire political life I have fought for women to access decision-making and leadership positions and my experience is that if you don’t ask for it, you won’t get it. It’s not something natural. That’s why I sent my letter. Because if I had not sent this letter, there would have been no hook (…) to examine the issue of diversity,” declared von der Leyen in Brussels.
Only four countries presented women
Von der Leyen seemed to hint that her efforts were instrumental in securing female candidacies from Belgium, Portugal, Bulgaria and also Romania, the latter country which on Monday changed to its male candidate for MEP Roxana Minzatu.
Von der Leyen denounced the lack of candidates, stating that only four countries –Spain, Sweden, Finland y Croatia– initially presented to women. At the end of June, EU leaders they proposed to Kaja Kallaformer Prime Minister of Estonia, for the position of High Representative for Foreign Affairs.
Diplomatic sources have told Euronews that Von der Leyen has also tried to convince other small member states, such as Slovenia y Maltafor to withdraw their male candidacies y replace them with women. The Slovenian government assured this Tuesday that it would not retract its original proposal, the former president of the Court of Auditors Tomaz Vesel.
The first criterion is competence
In Happy not the candidate of Malta, Glenn Micallefhave experience in the Government or in high diplomatic positions.
On Wednesday, Von der Leyen insisted that she would make the relevant competence and experience a prerequisite to be part of its team: “The first criterion is competence. The Commission needs competence and competence means high-ranking political experience, executive experience – for example, former prime ministers, or former ministers or deputy ministers – or at least high-ranking diplomatic experience or high-ranking work in the European institutions,” explained the head of the Commission. “This is crucial and first and foremost.”
Von der Leyen also acknowledged that, in some casesthe candidates male presented by EU countries were more competent than the female alternative, but in others it was “the opposite”.
He is currently conducting interviews with the candidates, and hopes to confirm the distribution of portfolios on September 19. All candidates must undergo a hearing before the relevant committees of the European Parliament and a confirmation function before being sworn in.
