Von der Leyen Commission I
| Von der Leyen Commission | |
|---|---|
 7th Commission of the European Union | |
 | |
| Date formed | 1 December 2019 |
| People and organisations | |
| President of the Commission | |
| Vice-President(s) of the Commission | |
| No. of commissioners | 28 |
| Member parties |
|
| Status in legislature | |
| History | |
| Election(s) | 2019 European Parliament election |
| Legislature term(s) | Ninth |
| Budget(s) | €165.8 billion (2019) |
| Predecessor | Juncker Commission |
The von der Leyen Commission is the current European Commission, in office since 1 December 2019. Its president is Ursula von der Leyen, who presides over a commission composed of one commissioner from each of the states composing the European Union, except Germany, which is von der Leyen's member state. The United Kingdom has no commissioner due to its planned withdrawal from the European Union.
The Commission was scheduled to take office on 1 November 2019; having the French, Hungarian and Romanian commissioner-candidates lost their confirmation votes by the European Parliament in early October 2019,[1] new commissioners had to be selected from those three member states by the President-elect and subsequently confirmed by the Parliament. This process took place in November 2019 and the Commission eventually took office in its entirety on 1 December 2019.[2]
Election and formation
Von der Leyen, a member of the European People's Party (EPP), was selected and proposed to the European Parliament by the European Council on 3 July 2019 following a three day long negotiations between leaders of the member states. Von der Leyen faced many critics, especially by MEPs since the European Council ignored the so-called spitzenkandidat system when choosing candidate for the position.
On 16 July 2019, European Parliament took a vote on the proposal by the European Council and elected Von der Leyen with 383 votes (374 votes needed). Before the vote von der Leyen had a declared support of three largest political groups in the Parliament (EPP, S&D and RE), and during the debate conservative Polish party Law and Justice (PiS) with 24 MEPs, and Italian Five Stars Movement (M5S) with 14 MEPs declared their support for von der Leyen. Based on the result of the vote nearly 100 MEPs of the unofficial grand coalition EPP-S&D-RE did not vote for Von der Leyen. Based on the debate and public announcements of the MEPs most of the MEPs voting against von der Leyen probably came from S&D group, part of which is also German Social Democratic Party which publicly opposed Von der Leyen due to her work as German Defence Minister.[3]
Following her election, President of the European Council Donald Tusk asked von der Leyen to give her consent on appointing Josep Borrell of Spain the next EU High Representative. Consent was given on 26 July 2019, following which, the European Council officially appointed Borrell the next High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on 5 August 2019.[4][5][6] Borrell is to be officially nominated by the Spanish government and has to pass the vote of the European Parliament AFET Committee after a hearing before the same committee.
The Commission was approved by European Parliament on 27 November 2019, receiving 461 votes, with 157 against and 89 abstentions. EPP, S&D, Renew Europe and half of ECR voted in favour. Greens/EFA abstained.[7]
Commissioners
Even before von der Leyen's confirmation, she pledged to rename Frans Timmermans, the spitzenkandidat of the Party of European Socialists (PES), as the First Vice President. Margrethe Vestager, one of the leading candidates of the Alliance of Liberal and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE), as said by von der Leyen will become Vice President as well, having de facto equal position to that of Timmermans. Other names have been mentioned by various news outlets as candidates. Some of the member states have already submitted the official nominations to the President-in-office of the Council of the EU.
Von der Leyen requested that member states each propose two candidates, one of each gender, so it would be easier to form a gender balanced commission. France's Thierry Breton was the last candidate to be designated on 24 October 2019 by Emmanuel Macron.
Commission departments
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Directorate-Generals
Executive agencies and service departments
Executive agencies
| Executive Agency | Head | |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Abbr. | |
| Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency | CHAFEA | |
| Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency | EACEA | |
| European Research Council Executive Agency | ERCEA | |
| Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises | EASME | |
| Research Executive Agency | REA | |
Service departments
| Service department | Head | |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Abbr. | |
| Administration and Payment of Individual Entitlements | PMO | |
| Data Protection Officer | DPO | |
| European Anti-Fraud Office | OLAF | |
| European Personnel Selection Office | EPSO | |
| European Political Strategy Centre | EPSC | |
| Foreign Policy Instruments | FPI | |
| Historical Archives Service | ||
| Infrastructure and Logistics in Brussels | OIB | |
| Infrastructure and Logistics in Luxembourg | OIL | |
| Innovation and Networks Executive Agency | INEA | |
| Internal Audit Service | IAS | |
| Legal Service | SJ | |
| Library and e-Resources Centre | ||
| Publications Office | OP | |
| Secretariat-General | SG | |
| Structural Reform Support Service | SRSS | |
| Taskforce on Article 50 negotiations with the United Kingdom | ||
Selection of the candidate for president
Following the 2014 European Election example, main European political parties named so called spitzenkandidaten or leading candidates who were parties' candidates to become the next president of the European Commission. All of the parties named one, some of them two candidates, while Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE) officially opposing the system of spitzenkandidaten introduced "Team Europe" composing of several high-ranking European politicians. Other parties however perceived those candidates, especially Margrethe Vestager of Denmark, as leading candidates.
Leading candidates were:
| Party | Leading candidates | |
|---|---|---|
| style="width:1px; background-color:Template:European People's Party/meta/color" | | European People's Party |  Manfred Weber
|
| style="width:1px; background-color:Template:Party of European Socialists/meta/color" | | Party of European Socialists |  Frans Timmermans
|
| style="width:1px; background-color:Template:Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe/meta/color" | | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party | Nicola Beer Emma Bonino Violeta Bulc Katalin Cseh Luis Garicano Guy Verhofstadt Margrethe Vestager
|
| style="width:1px; background-color:Template:Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists/meta/color" | | Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe |  Jan Zahradil
|
| style="width:1px; background-color:Template:European Green Party/meta/color" | | European Green Party | Bas Eickhout Ska Keller
|
| style="width:1px; background-color:Template:Party of the European Left/meta/color" | | Party of the European Left | Violeta Tomić Nico Cué
|
After winning 2019 European election European People's Party claimed that the position of the President of the European Commission should be given to them and wanted their leading candidate Manfred Weber in that position. However, Weber faced strong opposition by the ALDE Party and liberal-leaning French President Emmanuel Macron and also by the Party of European Socialists (PES). Main reason for opposing Weber was his lack of experience, since Weber only served as MEP before and never held any governmental position.[40] PES strongly supported the candidature of Frans Timmermans, who also had support of ALDE members of the European Council, with exception of the Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, who is member of the Visegrad Four, that strongly opposed Timmermans, mainly because of his support for migration quotas and inability to reach compromises.[41] ALDE Party wanted to see Margrethe Vestager taking the top Commission job.
The first European Council meeting was held on 20 and 21 June 2019, bringing no decision on distribution of "EU top jobs". President Donald Tusk summoned leader again for a special meeting from 30 June until 2 July 2019, when it was decided that Ursula von der Leyen (EPP) will be nominated as the next President of the European Commission. The negotiations lasted for three days. It soon became clear that EPP gave up on Weber becoming the President of the Commission and it seemed that Timmermans will be nominated, especially after he met with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov at the Bulgarian Embassy in Belgium during the meeting of the European Council. Naming Timmermans President of the European Commission was a part of the so-called Osaka deal, plan that was formed by EU leaders during the 2019 G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan (Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, Giuseppe Conte, Donald Tusk, Mark Rutte and Pedro Sánchez). However, the opposition from Visegrad Four, now joined by Croatia and Italy was still strong and it became clear that Timmermans cannot win the majority in the Council. Other names were mentioned during the negotiations, including Michel Barnier, Kristalina Georgieva and Andrej Plenković. For the Plenković's candidature it became clear after the Council ended that his name was introduced by Commission Secretary-General Martin Selmayr who is Plenković's close friend. The candidature was rejected by Macron opposing the personal ambitions of leaders.[42] Name of Ursula von der Leyen was a surprise and she faced many critics, mainly because she was not the leading candidate. The German Social Democratic Party, member of the German government coalition, opposed Von der leyen due to her work as minister of defence, which resulted in the German Chancellor Angela Merkel's abstention during the Council's vote on the proposal. All other European Council members voted in favor.
Brexit
With the three month Brexit delay requested, the United Kingdom has not yet nominated any British commissioner. This is a unique event with no precedent in the history of the European Union. Von der Leyen had to formally request the British government nominate an EU commissioner. She also asked the legal service if the Commission could operate without a British commissioner. Some MEPs have suggested the possibility of a vote to allow the EU Commission to operate without a British commissioner.[43]
Notes
- ^ No nominee was proposed by the United Kingdom
References
- ^ Amaro, Silvia (1 November 2019). "The new EU leadership is in limbo after lawmakers reject three new members". CNBC. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
- ^ "Von der Leyen's in — now the hard work begins". POLITICO. 2019-11-27. Retrieved 2019-12-02.
- ^ "Ursula von der Leyen elected European Commission president". POLITICO. 2019-07-16. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
- ^ a b https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-11503-2019-INIT/en/pdf
- ^ a b https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-11506-2019-INIT/en/pdf
- ^ a b https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32019D1330
- ^ "Election of the Commission". VoteWatch Europe. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
- ^ "Next European Commission: List in full". POLITICO. 2019-09-10. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Bayer, Lili (10 July 2019). "The next European Commission: What we know so far". Politico Europe. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
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- ^ https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-11613-2019-INIT/en/pdf
- ^ Aagaard, Thomas; Danielsen, Mikkel (10 September 2019). "Kommende kommisionsformand løfter sløret: Her er Vestagers nye job". berlingske.dk/ (in Danish). Berlingske Media. Berlingske. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
- ^ https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-11554-2019-INIT/en/pdf
- ^ https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-11549-2019-INIT/en/pdf
- ^ "France eyes Selmayr's post to balance German Commission presidency". Euractiv. 18 July 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
- ^ "Plenković predlaže Sanadera za tajnika HDZ-a, Šuicu za EK". Hrvatska radiotelevizija. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
- ^ Bayer, Lili (18 July 2019). "Commission spokesperson nominated as next Greek European commissioner". Politico Europe. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
- ^ https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-11654-2019-INIT/en/pdf
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- ^ https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-11612-2019-INIT/en/pdf
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- ^ https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-11560-2019-INIT/en/pdf
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- ^ Siza, Rita. "Costa propõe Pedro Marques ou Elisa Ferreira para comissário europeu". PÚBLICO (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2019-08-09.
- ^ "Costa escolhe Elisa Ferreira para Comissária Europeia". Jornal Expresso (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2019-08-27.
- ^ https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-11569-2019-INIT/en/pdf
- ^ "Commissaire européen: Didier Reynders est annoncé". www.lesoir.be. 2019-08-19. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
- ^ "MEP Adina Valean approved as Romania's European Commissioner". Euronews. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
- ^ "STATEMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT OF MALTA: The Prime Minister nominates Dr Helena Dalli as member of the European Commission". www.gov.mt. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
- ^ "Sylvie Goulard proposée par la France pour être commissaire européenne" (in French). 2019-08-28. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
- ^ TT (2019-08-08). "Ylva Johansson föreslås bli ny EU-kommissionär" (in Swedish). Retrieved 2019-08-08.
- ^ komuniciranje, Urad vlade Republike Slovenije za. "Vlada o predlogu kandidata za člana Evropske komisije in ustanovitvi Slovenske hiše v Bruslju | GOV.SI". Portal GOV.SI (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2019-07-30.
- ^ https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-11571-2019-INIT/en/pdf
- ^ "Finnish Government nominated Jutta Urpilainen as candidate for EU Commissioner". Valtioneuvosto. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
- ^ https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-11555-2019-INIT/en/pdf
- ^ "The Government approved the proposal to submit Kadri Simson as the candidate for European Commissioner". Government of the Republic of Estonia. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
- ^ https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-11557-2019-INIT/en/pdf
- ^ Herszenhorn, David M. (2019-08-07). "Lithuania puts forward economy minister for European Commission". POLITICO. Retrieved 2019-08-07.
- ^ Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Weber won't be next European Commission president: report | DW | 28.06.2019". DW.COM. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
- ^ "Timmermanse neschválíme, prohlásil Babiš. Kritizuje jej za migrační kvóty a předsudky vůči střední Evropě". Lidovky.cz (in Czech). 1 July 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
- ^ "Coulisses de Bruxelles - Martin Selmayr au service du Premier ministre croate, Andrej Plenković - Libération.fr". bruxelles.blogs.liberation.fr. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
- ^ https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1196970/Brexit-news-Ursula-von-der-Leyen-European-Commission-Brexit-delay-Boris-Johnson
