With just days remaining before the deadline for European Union (EU) member states to present their candidates – ideally two (one man and one woman) – for the position of European Commissioner in the next term (2024-2029), Portugal is one of five countries among the 27 that has not yet announced its choice or communicated it to Brussels.
European sources connected to the process indicated that Luís Montenegro’s government has, however, been in contact with the head of the EU executive, Ursula von der Leyen, who hopes that the country might present a female candidate, given her priority for gender equality, which is currently not fully respected by the countries in their proposed candidates.
It is certain that, according to these EU officials, Portugal will not have a less important portfolio just because the former Prime Minister, António Costa, will be President of the European Council. The ‘puzzle’ of top EU positions in the next institutional cycle takes into account factors such as geographical distribution.
The same officials even added that currently, the most disputed portfolios are security and defense (by Central and Eastern European countries) and economic ones (by the rest), with the final choice resting with Von der Leyen and taking into account the characteristics of the candidates and the sizes of the countries.
In addition to the usual portfolios (such as competition, finance, environment, employment, agriculture, energy), there will be new portfolios in the next term such as Defense (focusing on industrial strategy), Fisheries and Oceans (to give more visibility to the sector), Mediterranean (to manage migrations), and Housing (given the problems recorded in several EU countries), as already announced by Ursula von der Leyen.
Although the official deadline ends on August 30, next Friday, name proposals will still be accepted by Von der Leyen until early September, with the leader wanting to present her team proposal in mid-September.
The request for countries to submit names was made in letters sent at the end of July by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to EU heads of government and state, in which she advocated for a “gender-balanced college of commissioners.”
Ursula von der Leyen was re-elected in July as President of the European Commission for another five years. The center-right German politician has been Commission President since December 2019, being the first woman in the role, and was the European People’s Party’s lead candidate in the European elections last June.
Regarding her executive team, the European Commission President is responsible for choosing and assigning the different portfolios, after nominations from the countries, and has already begun some interviews.
Between September and October, there will be public hearings in the European Parliament for the proposed names for new European commissioners, with the European assembly giving the final approval for the new European Commission to take office later, which is expected to happen by the end of the year.
Of the 27 positions in the next college of commissioners, the names of Ursula von der Leyen (President, from Germany) and Kaja Kallas for High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President (from Estonia) are defined.
The remaining known candidate names are listed, followed by the countries that have yet to make their nominations: Belgium, Bulgaria (countries currently trying to form a government), as well as Denmark, Italy, and Portugal.
