New EU College of Commissioners Announced

New EU College of Commissioners Announced

On 18 July, Ursula von der Leyen was reconfirmed as President of the European Commission for the next 5 years by the European Parliament, with 401 votes in favour – out of 719 Members of the European Parliament, so the necessary majority was 360 votes. On the same day, she presented her Political Guidelines for the next European Commission 2024-2029. With this re-election, her job began to form a new College of Commissioners, by inviting Member States to submit their nominations of candidates for the posts. Once defining the mission statement for each role reflecting the ambitions set out in the Political Guidelines, Ursula von der Leyen presented the list of Commissioners-designate and their portfolios on 17 September. The next step is the hearings of the Commissioner designates in front of the respective European Parliament committees. These are scheduled to occur between 4 and 12 of November. All nominees have received written questions prepared by various Parliament committees, and have already published their responses. These are publicly available and can be consulted here. 

The policy areas most closely linked to EPR’s work and that of our members have been assigned to: 

• Roxana Mînzatu (Romania): Executive Vice-President for People, Skills and Preparedness
• Raffaele Fitto (Italy): Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms
• Hadja Lahbib (Belgium) Commissioner for Preparedness and Crisis Management Equality
• Dan JØRGENSEN (Denmark): Commissioner for Energy and Housing
• Olivér VÁRHELYI (Hungary): Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare

As stipulated in the mission statements, Roxana Mînzatu is in charge of social inclusion, employment, and education, while Raffaele Fitto, will oversee the planning and implementation of key EU funds relevant to the social services sector. The Portfolio of Roxana Mînzatu replaces the one of current Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, demonstrating a shift towards individualisation and securitisation of social issues, with a greater focus on competitiveness and productivity fueled by skills. Numerous voices from civil society have also expressed deep concern and disappointment in seeing the absence of a stand-alone Commissioner on Equality, which has instead been added as a secondary Portfolio for Commissioner-designate Hadja Lahbib, who is entrusted with Preparedness and Crisis Management. Read here the statement made by the European Disability Forum right after the new College proposal was announced. In fact, there is alarm that the union of equality is no longer a real priority objective of the Commission and that we are taking a step backwards from the strides made in the past 5 years. Yet, for now, we are pleased to see in Hadja Lahbib’s answers to the Parliament committee questions that: “one of my early priorities would be to close the remaining gaps and contribute to a barrier-free Europe for persons with disabilities. Key areas for attention will continue to be employment, independent living, accessibility, and mainstreaming of disability considerations across all policy areas.” Once the hearings are concluded and term begins, EPR will work together as a partner and with civil society to call for a strong social agenda and to support the continued implementation of the Strategy on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which is encompassed in the Equality Portfolio. 

For further information:

• The previous formation of the European Commission from 2019-2024
• Statement made by Ursula von Der Leyen before the European Parliament in July   
• The Social Platform’s letter in reaction to the new College of Commissioners