(Bloomberg) -- Ursula von der Leyen proposed sweeping portfolios for Italy and Spain, as well as a new role overseeing financial and industrial policy for France in her next European Commission.
The president of the bloc’s executive arm unveiled her proposed slate of commissioners in Strasbourg on Tuesday. Teresa Ribera, Spain’s climate minister, was tapped to be in charge of the powerful antitrust portfolio and oversee the clean-energy transition, while Italy’s European affairs minister, Raffaele Fitto, is tasked with cohesion policy, which involves overseeing significant EU funding, and regional development.
Finland’s Henna Virkkunen, who has spent a decade in the European Parliament, will have a portfolio that includes technology sovereignty, security and democracy.
On Monday, France named outgoing foreign minister Stephane Sejourne to be its nominee to replace EU internal market chief Thierry Breton, who blasted von der Leyen’s judgment Monday in a sharply worded resignation letter.
Sejourne’s proposed role — which would give him oversight of trade, financial services and the economy — sets France up for a central role in the EU’s increasingly urgent debate over how to boost its competitiveness. The bloc is under pressure to respond to growing industrial challenges from China and the US as it digests the findings of a new report from former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi.
“The whole college is committed to competitiveness,” von der Leyen told reporters, saying she was implementing some of Draghi’s recommendations. “We have dissipated the former rigid stovepipes.”
Von der Leyen has spent weeks balancing a set of competing demands from political parties and the EU’s 27 member states as she tried to find a slate of nominees and portfolios that would pass muster with governments and survive scrutiny in the European Parliament.
When von der Leyen appointed her first set of commissioners in 2019, she said, “the topic of global warming was absolute top.” This time, she noted, that while climate change remains a key topic, “the topic of security and competitiveness has much more impact on the composition and the design of political guidelines.”
The slate of 26 commissioners need to be approved by the European Parliament following a series of confirmation hearings. Von der Leyen would like to have the new commission in place by Nov. 1 but that target could slip to December.
Von der Leyen had said she wanted a gender-balanced commission, but struggled to persuade countries to put forward both male and female nominees, meaning she had to settle for a slate where only 11 of the 26 choices were women. Four of her six picks for executive vice president roles, however, were women.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who had voted against von der Leyen’s bid for a second term as commission president, praised Fitto’s assignment.
In a post on X, she called it an “important recognition that confirms the newfound central role of our Nation in the EU. Italy is finally back to being a protagonist in Europe.”
Fitto will oversee the expenditure of nearly €400 billion under the EU budget, one of the biggest pots of funding. This porfolio has also become instrumental over the past years in disputes with countries, most notably Hungary, over rule of law and corruption concerns, as Brussels blocked the disbursement of these funds to force governments to amend national laws. The commission is also considering using these powers with Slovakia over corruption concerns, Bloomberg previously reported.
Competition Role
In a commission that’s majority male, Ribera, Spain’s deputy prime minister, will have a top seat at the table overseeing the transition and competition policy.
The 55-year-old has been consistently one of the most climate ambitious on the EU’s green deal. But she is also pragmatic, successfully bridging divides between Germany and France on nuclear power during Spain’s presidency of the 27-member bloc and helping lead climate negotiations at COP29 in Dubai last year.
Ribera will be responsible for enforcing the bloc’s heavy arsenal of antitrust rules against some of the world’s largest companies. This includes ongoing probes into Google, Gucci, Red Bull, and Apple, as well as the bloc’s merger rules at a time of increasing consolidation in the telecom, tech and airline sectors. She’s also help manage enforcement of the EU’s powerful new Big Tech law — the Digital Markets Act — and police potentially distortive foreign subsidies into the EU.
The biggest challenge for Ribera will be to ensure the EU keeps its ambitious climate policy after fears about the costs of the Green Deal triggered protests from farmers and industry. In a bid to allay the concerns, von der Leyen already pledged a Clean Industrial Deal that would ensure European companies stay competitive during the massive green overhaul.
Virkkunen, meanwhile. takes on an influential new role spearheading EU policies on digital and cutting-edge technology, as well as strengthening the bloc’s security and rule of law.
A center-right member of EU parliament, Virkkunen, 52, has built a track record as a digitally savvy policymaker. As a member of the parliament’s influential industry, research and energy committee, she worked on several tech and cybersecurity rulebooks, including the landmark Digital Services Act – the EU’s attempt to rein in online platforms with strict rules on content moderation.
Before moving to Brussels, Virkkunen had served as Finland’s minister of education and minister of public administration.
Some of the other key proposed roles include:
Climate and Energy
Former Dutch finance minister Wopke Hoekstra will continue his role overseeing climate policy for the EU, including on a diplomatic level — meaning he will likely represent the bloc at upcoming global climate negotiations in Baku, Azerbaijan. He’ll also oversee tax.
Denmark’s climate minister Dan Jorgensen is set to become the EU’s next energy chief, overseeing the bloc’s transition away from fossil fuels. The 49-year-old social democrat was at key meetings through the brunt of the energy crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and is seen as a trusted pair of hands on the world stage, landing key roles during international climate negotiations. His key priority will be lowering the high cost of energy, which is hampering the economy, and also weaning the bloc off Russian fossil fuels.
Defense
Andrius Kubilius, a two-time prime minister of Lithuania, is being tapped for the defense portfolio. He’s a staunch Ukraine ally and is recognized as a Russia expert in the European Parliament, where he’s served since 2019. He notably was in favor of using all of Russia’s frozen assets — not just the windfall profits — to help Ukraine. He also advocated for European countries to devote 0.25% of their GDP to military help for Ukraine.
Kubilius also led his country through the global financial crisis on an agenda of painful austerity measures that were later praised by the European Commission.
With Kubilius in the defense seat and former Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas serving as the bloc’s top diplomat, the EU’s foreign policy focus will clearly be on the war on its eastern flank.
Financial Services
Maria Luis Albuquerque of Portugal will be in charge of financial services and the savings and investments union. She served as finance minister in a center-right coalition government between 2013 and 2015, when Portugal finished implementing a bailout program provided by the EU and the International Monetary Fund.
Justice
Ireland’s Michael McGrath will take on the justice portfolio. That means the former finance minister who oversaw his country’s surplus grow thanks to record corporation tax receipts will be responsible for upholding the rule of law and enforcing data protection regulations across the bloc. Dublin is home to the Data Protection Commission, the body which safeguards consumer’s data in the EU.
He has also been tasked with taking forward the so-called European democracy shield, a structure set up to protect EU democracy by countering foreign manipulation and interference.
Trade
Slovakia’s Maros Sefcovic was tapped to run the trade portfolio, focusing on customs policy and economic security. He was in charge of the European Green Deal in the previous commission. He will also the commission’s lead on relations with the UK to manage post-Brexit tensions. Von der Leyen, in a letter describing his role, also said Sefocvic willl work with the US on bilateral trade issues and, when it comes to China, will address the “spillover of non—market policies and practices, market distortions and harmful overcapacities.”
Sefcovic take over from Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, who faced a difficult period given the tensions with the US and China.
The commission failed to conclude landmark agreements with countries and regions including Mercosur, or settle for good a dispute with the US over steel and aluminum tariffs. Dombrovskis will be now in charge of economic policy, as well as a new portfolio for simplification of EU rules.
--With assistance from Andrea Palasciano, Olivia Fletcher, Milda Seputyte, Katharina Rosskopf, Gian Volpicelli, Ewa Krukowska, Alberto Nardelli, Lyubov Pronina and Joao Lima.
(Updates with additional details on antitrust, trade roles starting in 16th paragraph)
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