As Commissioner nominations trickle in from EU capitals, von der Leyen’s plan to ensure gender parity is facing early challenges.
A demand by Ursula von der Leyen for EU countries to put forward two names – one male and one female – to bid for a place in her new team has fallen on deaf ears in the capitals.
While the member states have until August 30 to propose European Commissioner nominees for the next five-year term, no country has yet indicated willingness to pitch two candidates from both genders in line with von der Leyen’s request.
“I want to pick the best-prepared candidates who share the European commitment. Once again, I will aim for an equal share of men and women at the College table,” von der Leyen told the European Parliament plenary in Strasbourg following her re-election last week.
The Commission President formalised her plea with a letter sent to EU governments on Thursday morning. A spokesperson for the executive confirmed that it explicitly lays out von der Leyen’s plan to strike a balance between both genders.
Nine member states have already confirmed their candidates, who will need to be grilled by von der Leyen as of mid-August and then survive a vote in the European Parliament’s committees before they can secure a place in the new ‘college’ of Commissioners.
Of those nine, six member states are fielding new candidates, but none have complied with von der Leyen’s request.
The remaining three – Latvia, the Netherlands and Slovakia – have chosen to re-nominate their outgoing Commissioners and are therefore not required to field both a man and a woman.
Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris told reporters this week that he would only be fielding former Finance Minister Michael McGrath, despite taking gender parity “extremely seriously.”
Harris said that Dublin “doesn’t lightly send their finance minister to Brussels,” meaning the government could be reluctant to propose another female candidate to compete with heavyweight McGrath.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala joined Harris in only nominating a male contender on Thursday when he confirmed his government had hand-picked Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Síkela to bid for a place in the EU executive.
Croatia has also nominated a sole male candidate, while Finland, Spain and Sweden have all pitched a woman only.
“I think the request of the president was clear to the member states – that she aims at having an equal share of men and women at the college table, and for this reason, she’s requesting two names,” a European Commission spokesperson said on Thursday.
“She will, of course, conduct her interviews and select on the basis of merits of the candidates,” the spokesperson added. “I think it’s fairly clear what she’s aiming at.”
The outgoing von der Leyen Commission had a gender balance of 13 female and 14 male Commissioners.
Von der Leyen is the first woman to preside over the EU’s executive arm, and has vowed to develop a “Roadmap for Women’s Rights” during her second term to close the gender pay and pensions gap, tackle violence against women and reconcile care and career.
