{"id":382275,"date":"2024-08-05T13:55:37","date_gmt":"2024-08-05T11:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2024\/08\/05\/von-der-leyen-commissione-parita-genere\/"},"modified":"2024-08-13T16:26:51","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T14:26:51","slug":"von-der-leyen-gender-parity-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/08\/05\/von-der-leyen-gender-parity-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"Von der Leyen’s call for gender parity for commissioner candidates never went well"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – The (at the moment) non-existent response by EU governments to the request of the re-elected president of the European Commission,<\/strong> Ursula von der Leyen,<\/strong> to have each member state propose\u00a0a man and a woman as commissioner candidates\u00a0to more easily achieve the stated goal of gender equality in her second consecutive cabinet is becoming a case. However, looking\u00a0back five years<\/strong> – to the summer of 2019, when newly elected president von der Leyen\u00a0was putting together her first team of commissioners\u00a0–\u00a0the situation was not much better, quite the opposite<\/strong>. The request\u00a0was the same, the response was the same as today.<\/p>\n

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\"Ursula<\/a>
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at the plenary session of the European Parliament (July 16, 2019)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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“If the member states do not propose a sufficient number of commissioners, I will not hesitate to ask for new names<\/strong>,” von der Leyen warned, speaking for the first time at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on July 16, 2019, just before the MEPs’ confirmation vote. On that occasion, the German politician made it clear that she would want one male and one female candidate from each of the 26 governments<\/strong> (exceptions were Germany, which held the Commission presidency, and Spain with the new EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, both appointed by the European Council), setting out the priority of gender equality in the future College of Commissioners she would lead. “Since 1958, there have been 183 commissioners, only 35 were women,\u00a0less than 20 percent<\/strong>,” the new Commission head attacked, “We represent half of our population.\u00a0We want our share.”<\/p>\n

The response from governments had been anything but welcoming: Only Romania\u00a0put forward two candidates<\/strong> – Rovana Plumb and Dan Nica<\/a> – a choice reiterated in November after the rejection of the former (by the EU Parliament) and the second (by von der Leyen), with Siegfried Mure\u0219an and Adina V\u0103lean<\/a>, the latter later becoming commissioner for Transport. The United Kingdom, ahead of its leaving the\u00a0Union on January 31, 2020, decided not to nominate any candidates, leaving the position vacant in the first two months of the von der Leyen Commission. In any case, there was almost gender parity in the list of appointed commissioners<\/a> – 12 out of 25 – thanks to the intensive mediation and persuasion by the Commission chief<\/strong>, who convinced several governments — including Sweden, Portugal, and Malta — to submit only one female commissioner candidate.<\/p>\n

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The members of the von der Leyen Commission designated on September 10, 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

However, the goal failed\u00a0with the rejection of the French nominee, Sylvie Goulard<\/strong>,\u00a0at\u00a0the European Parliament hearing, with the\u00a0only nomination of Thierry Breton<\/strong> (later to become Commissioner for the Internal Market) taking her spot. The ratio of female commissioners in the first von der Leyen cabinet\u00a0came to 12 women <\/strong>(including the chair herself)\u00a0and 15 men <\/strong>(including Spaniard Borrell)\u00a0before finally settling at 13-14<\/strong> as Ireland’s \u00a0Mairead McGuinness <\/strong>took over after the resignation of Phil Hogan<\/strong> in 2020. Seven governments (Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Ireland, Latvia, Czech Republic, and Slovakia) had availed themselves of the implicit exception to von der Leyen’s request on gender equality for commissioner candidates, confirming their respective outgoing commissioners, including three\u00a0female commissioners (Mariya Gabriel<\/strong>,\u00a0Margrethe Vestager<\/strong> and V\u011bra Jourov\u00e1<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

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\"Ursula<\/a>
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (18 luglio 2024)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Five years later, following the re-election as European Commission president<\/a> on July 18, von der Leyen presented the 25 governments with the same request as in\u00a02019, not only in a press conference in the European Parliament but this time also putting it in writing in a letter addressed to heads of state and government<\/a>. Governments should submit one man’s\u00a0and one woman’s name by August 30 to enable them to compose a College with an equal number of male and female commissioners<\/strong>. Exceptions are only those governments that decide to confirm the outgoing commissioners.<\/p>\n

In addition to Germany<\/strong>, which will express the president\u00a0of the Commission with Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong>, and Estonia<\/strong>, which will see former prime minister Kaja Kallas<\/strong> become EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy – both appointments are the responsibility of the European Council, which chose them<\/a> at the June 27 EU leaders’ summit – to date, official endorsement has come from 14 governments of Slovakia<\/strong>, Latvia<\/strong>, Slovenia<\/strong>, Ireland<\/strong>, Sweden<\/strong>, Finland<\/strong>, Netherlands<\/strong>, Czech Republic<\/strong>, Malta<\/strong>, Hungary<\/strong>, France<\/strong>,\u00a0Austria<\/strong>, Greece<\/strong>, and Croatia<\/strong>. None of these governments, however, complied with the re-elected president’s request on the double name, and with 11 nominations still missing, von der Leyen has on the table the resumes of\u00a011 men and three\u00a0women <\/strong>(rising to five\u00a0with High Representative Kallas and the president\u00a0of the Commission), including five\u00a0confirmed male and one female\u00a0commissioner (Slovakia, Latvia, the Netherlands, Hungary, France, and Croatia).<\/p>\n