Of the 17 EU capitals that have so far announced their candidates, only five have fielded female candidates.
advertisement
Ursula von der Leyen's shortlist of candidates to become the next European Commissioner is overwhelmingly male, with only five of the 17 countries that have nominated candidates so far fielding a woman.
This means that only 29% of candidates put forward so far are women, compared with 48% in von der Leyen's previous term.
Von der Leyen, representing Germany, called on each capital city to nominate two candidates, one man and one woman, to give it discretion to appoint a gender-balanced committee. No member state has yet complied with this request.
This will be an early challenge for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who is aiming to ensure gender equality in her second term in office.
The European Commission is the body that oversees the activities of the EU's executive body and is made up of one Commissioner representing each of the EU's 27 Member States.
“I want to choose the best-prepared candidate who shares our European commitments. Once again, I am committed to equality between men and women in European Parliament seats,” she said at a European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg after her re-election in July.
EU governments have until Aug. 30 to submit candidates to von der Leyen, who is due to begin interviewing them this week. She will then assign policy portfolios to the candidates in time for the relevant European Parliament committees to vote on appointments in September and October.
With von der Leyen herself elected as president and former Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas set to become the EU's chief foreign policy officer and one of the vice-presidents of the European Commission, the most prestigious post in the EU's executive branch will be held by a woman.
The other four women candidates are from Croatia, Finland, Spain and Sweden. Croatia's current Commissioner Dubravka Šuica has been nominated to remain in his position for another term, Spain has nominated Environment Minister Teresa Rivera to secure a high-profile climate or energy ministry position, and Sweden has also fielded a heavyweight in EU Affairs Minister Jessica Roswall. Finland has nominated MEP Henna Virkkunen.
Lack of female candidates
The race for the remaining commission posts appears set to remain heavily male-dominated, with only a few of the nine member states yet to announce their candidates rumoured to be women.
Dan Jorgensen, Denmark's minister for development cooperation and global warming policy, is the front-runner to be nominated by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, EU diplomats said.
In Portugal, former Minister of Regional Development Miguel Pohiares Maduro is also a candidate, while the Luxembourg government is rumoured to be caught between two male candidates: current Socialist European Commissioner Nicolas Schmitt and Christoph Hansen, a member of the European Parliament from the ruling centre-right party.
The remaining six countries – Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Italy, Lithuania and Romania – have either undecided or kept their candidates secret, with few female candidates expected to be nominated.
Von der Leyen's next move unclear
Von der Leyen is the first woman to lead an EU executive body and has pledged to develop a “roadmap for women's rights” during her second term to close gender pay and pension gaps, tackle violence against women and balance caregiving with careers.
But if she cannot find balance within her team, her credibility as a champion of women's rights is at risk.
advertisement
She leaves the European Commission as its most gender-equal ever, with 14 men and 13 women. Women's representation was significantly lower in previous terms, with just a third of former President Jean-Claude Juncker's cabinet from 2014 to 2019 being women.
But her demand for two nominees representing both men and women is not legally binding and will rely on the goodwill of EU leaders.
Asked by Euronews what action von der Leyen might take, a European Commission spokesman said in a statement: “A few weeks ago, the Commission sent a letter from the President to Member States asking for the names of candidates to run for the post of Commissioner. Member States have until 30 August to respond.”
“We do not comment on individual announcements by Member States in this context,” the spokesman added.
advertisement
Countries have said they are choosing the best candidate for the post to justify ignoring von der Leyen's request for two nominations.
Ireland's Prime Minister Simon Harris said in July he would only field former finance minister Michael McGrath, despite taking gender equality “very seriously”.
Harris said Dublin “does not lightly send a finance minister to Brussels” and suggested the government might be reluctant to nominate another female candidate to challenge McGrath, the front-runner.
This article has been updated to add Finland's Henna Virkkunen as one of the women commissioner candidates.
advertisement
Source link
