The Commission chief will no longer meet Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to discuss the formation of her new team on Wednesday as expected, parliamentary sources told Euronews.
Ursula von der Leyen has delayed the presentation of her new team of Commissioners and the policy areas they will helm until next week, three parliamentary sources confirmed on Tuesday.
The Commission chief was expected to meet the chairs of the European Parliament’s political factions on Wednesday to discuss progress in putting together her 26-strong team of European Commissioners, tasked with steering the work of the EU’s powerful executive for the next five years.
She will no longer be attending that meeting, signalling that the process of appointing the ‘college’ of Commissioners could take longer than expected.
The delay is believed to be in part due to Slovenia’s last-minute change in its nominee to former diplomat Marta Kos, which was announced by the government in Ljubljana on Monday but which needs to be ratified by the country’s parliament.
The change came after von der Leyen lobbied a handful of EU governments to replace their male nominations with women, as part of her push to ensure gender parity in her new team.
A Commission spokesperson said last Friday that the meeting intended for Wednesday was designed to be an “exchange of views” on the “ongoing work of setting up the new college”, suggesting that she would not be proposing the definitive structure of her team.
Von der Leyen is expected to unveil her team and their roles during next week’s European Parliament’s plenary sitting in Strasbourg.
