EU Politics Decoded - How von der Leyen took charge

By Magnus Lund Nielsen & Nicoletta Ionta

Dear readers,

Welcome to EU Politics Decoded, brought to you today from Strasbourg by Magnus Lund Nielsen with reporting from Nicoletta Ionta. EU Politics Decoded is your essential guide for staying up-to-date with the Brussels bubble. Subscribe to Politics Decoded here.

In today’s edition

Devoted readers of this newsletter will recall how, a few weeks ago, Decoded dared to speculate that von der Leyen would offload the task of ensuring gender parity and culling weak nominees to the European Parliament. But no — she rolled up her sleeves and did the job herself.

Over the past few weeks, von der Leyen has shown a new side of herself, strong-arming member states into giving her the candidates she preferred.

Just days after Decoded’s unfortunately-timed theory, on 2 September, Roxana Mînzatu replaced Victor Negrescu as Romania’s nominee. Romanian MEP Siegfried Mureșan (EPP) told Euractiv that von der Leyen herself had rejected Negrescu (S&D), forcing Bucharest’s hand. The President rewarded the move by handing Mînzatu an executive vice-president job.

Freshly emboldened, von der Leyen then set her sights on Ljubljana. On 6 September, Slovenia’s Tomaž Vesel – among the earliest nominees submitted to Brussels – withdrew his candidacy. Three days later, on 9 September, former diplomat Marta Kos replaced him. Again, von der Leyen had a carrot for Slovenia in return, entrusting Kos with the coveted enlargement portfolio.

But von der Leyen’s biggest scalp was claimed this Monday (16 September), when French Commissioner Thierry Breton announced his immediate resignation. The internal market commissioner was expected to get a senior position in the new team. Breton’s swift replacement by Macronist Stéphane Séjourné had all the hallmarks of a prebaked deal.

Personal grievances between Breton and von der Leyen seem to have come in the way of a second term for the former telecoms CEO.

One could speculate that the news of Breton’s resignation was withheld until the last minute, to give as little airtime as possible to the disowned Frenchmen, before the news cycle moved on to a new Commission the day after. If true, Von der Leyen played her cards more strategically than she has before.

If recent events are telling of how von der Leyen plans to conduct her second mandate, both member states and parliamentarians had better buckle up for a more resolute Commission President.
Von der Leyen on top of it all
Journalists and EU observers have been scratching their heads since Tuesday, trying to figure out the organogram of the new European Commission. The current Commission’s approach, with a few executive vice-presidents (EVPs) each herding their cluster of junior commissioners, seems to have been replaced by a more intertwined set-up.

The complex composition might reflect the increasingly difficult challenges facing the EU, but it does come with one positive side effect for von der Leyen.

As commissioner portfolios seem to overlap and criss-cross in ways most will ever fully untangle, there is only one commissioner whose responsibilities are crystal clear: von der Leyen herself.

Getting ready for a roast. That von der Leyen’s new line-up is more to her liking than it was two weeks ago does not mean that a smooth passage through Parliament awaits. As my colleague Nicoletta Ionta has found out, there are plenty of weak links for MEPs to attempt to break.

Several nominees will have to confront their skeletons in the cupboard, and brace for tough questioning. Among the most likely to face intense scrutiny are; Belgium’s Hadja Lahbib, Slovenia’s Marta Kos, Hungary’s Oliver Várhelyi, and Italy’s Raffaele Fitto.

Are we there soon? Parliamentarians are eager to meet and grill the new class of commissioners, but the three-hour-long hearings are only expected to begin in mid-October

The process is delayed by two plenary sessions in October, where the entire Parliament machinery takes the train from Brussels to Strasbourg for week-long sessions, leaving no time for hearings.

Welcome the new class of 2024. On Tuesday (17 September) von der Leyen presented her new team of commissioners. Check out our Commission Tracker to learn more about the candidates who made the cut.

Not everyone is happy with Romania’s portfolio. The internet – and Strasbourg itself -has been buzzing with memes and tweets speculating on the scope of the portfolio assigned to socialist nominee Roxana Mînzatu.

“Romania got a very weak portfolio,” MEP Siegfried Mureșan told Euractiv. He explained that Romania aimed for an economic portfolio, but this was not feasible due to the country’s lack of fiscal discipline. “The enlargement portfolio might have been a better choice for Romania, given its strategic position in Europe,” he added.

And what about Fitto? Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni welcomed Raffaele Fitto’s nomination for the Cohesion and Reforms portfolio. “Italy is finally back as a key player in Europe,” she said on X.

Not all political voices agree, with many highlighting the weakness of the portfolio handed to one of the EU’s largest founding members.

“Far from a success, we are left with nothing but empty hands,” said Pasquale Tridico, head of the Five Star Movement (M5S) delegation (The Left).

The same sentiment was expressed by members of the Italian party AVS, four of whom sit with the Greens group. “We find it entirely unacceptable to assign significant roles to representatives of nationalist governments who hinder every project of European integration and are subservient to war-driven and arms-race logic.”

Austrian elections approaching. On 29 September Austria will go to the polls to elect the new parliament. According to the latest polling by Europe Elects, the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) is leading with 28%, followed by the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), while the centre-left Social Democrats (SPÖ) trail behind.

The FPÖ manifesto promotes remigration for migrants who break the law, reducing asylum numbers. It also proposes to tie welfare benefits to Austrian citizenship, better pay and training for healthcare workers to reduce reliance on immigration, and a law banning “political Islam.”

If you’d like to contact me with tips, comments, and/or feedback, drop me a line at magnus.lundnielsen@euractiv.com.

*Nicoletta Ionta contributed to this report

[Edited by Rajnish Singh/Owen Morgan]