Toward a new European Commission: von der Leyen insists on gender equality, but the group is predominantly male
Kyiv • UNN
Ursula von der Leyen is forming a new European Commission, insisting on gender equality. However, most of the candidates are men, making it difficult to achieve a balance when taking into account geographical and political factors.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is introducing her new team this week. The work on the next European executive body is not without delays. As an EU diplomat commented to Politico, Von der Leyen pays a lot of attention to gender balance, but does not have the necessary tools to achieve this goal.
Writes UNN with references to Politico and Domani.
Details
At the conference on Wednesday, Ursula von der Leyen plans to discuss the structure and portfolios of the new EU Commission.
It is not yet certain that she will be able to represent her team. It is necessary to check potential conflicts of interest and, in the course of a series of hearings, to question the candidates for EU commissioners.
At the same time, von der Leyen pays a lot of attention to gender balance, which is a difficult task, as it requires taking into account geographical and political balance.
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The task is made even more difficult by making last-minute changes to candidates and the scope of supervision of new candidates on their own initiative, according to the Politico article.
Ursula von der Leyen is focusing too much on gender balance without having the necessary tools to achieve this goal, one EU diplomat told the publication.
He added that “the hole she is digging for herself is getting deeper and deeper.
For reference
As the new European Commission begins to take shape, in recent days all member states have submitted their candidate - or candidates - for the role of Commissioner. Von der Leyen unofficially asked for two names, one male and one female, to be submitted. However, only Bulgaria has honored this request, while the others have resubmitted the last commissioner or have not found other options.
The request was made in order to be able to select as balanced a number of candidates as possible during the selection stage.
She asked each European leader for two candidates. Instead, she got the middle fingers
As Domani notes, since the president does not have to make further requests for changes, then - if the Commission were approved - it would consist of an overwhelming majority of men.
The women who could become commissioners are former Estonian President Kaja Kallas, who will be the Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Spain's Teresa Ribera, Finland's Hanna Virkunen, Portugal's Maria Luiz Albuquerque, Jessica Roswall for Sweden, Dubravka Šuica from Croatia, Ekaterina Zakharieva from Bulgaria (in tandem with Giuliano Popov), Belgium's Hadja Lahbib and Roxane Minzatu, the Romanian representative of the Socialists.
Ursula von der Leyen emphasizes the importance of gender equality.
“Throughout my political life, I have fought for women to have access to leadership and management positions. And my experience shows that if you don't ask for it, you don't get it. It doesn't come naturally,” she said at a press conference last Wednesday.
To recap
The European Commission is considering freezing €12.8 billion in funding for Slovakia due to the dissolution of the special prosecutor's office.
