The deadline for the submission of the list of European commissioners is Friday, August 30, and everything indicates that this will not go smoothly because the proposed candidates are mostly men, which is against the request of the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
According to the AFP agency, on the list of proposed commissioners out of 21 candidates, 16 are men, despite the fact that Von der Leyen explicitly asked the members of the bloc to give a chance to one male and one female candidate.
None of the members did so and, as things stand, women will hold several of the six positions in the next convocation of the European Commission, including von der Leyen herself and the candidate for the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, the outgoing Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kalas.
There is a possibility that one of the main causes of the new situation between Von der Leyen and the European capitals is that there is only support on paper for the achievement of various goals of Brussels, such as gender equality, but in practice their hands remain tied because their execution remains with the European Commission.
“As members of the EU, we expect von der Leyen to strive for gender equality, but at the same time, we also believe that we should propose a candidate for the European Commission according to our will. Unfortunately, everything indicates that, this time, those two wishes are not aligned.” said an EU diplomat, who did not want to be named.
Von der Leyen made gender equality a priority in her first team, but now she, Callas and the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metzola, have taken, which is unprecedented, three of the four leading positions in the EU with only a male representative in the position of the President of the European Council, Antonio Košta.
