Member States Face Deadline To Nominate European Commissioners

The end of August marks the deadline for EU member states to nominate their candidates to be their European Commissioner, with three still yet to submit a name for Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's second term. Belgium, Bulgaria, and Italy have still to put forward a name. For Belgium and Bulgaria, the process has been complicated by long-running gov't coalition negotiations following elections in June, whereas for Italy the delay has been put down to the gov't choosing not to put forward preferred candidate Raffaele Fitto during the summer break.

• All three countries have said that they will submit a nominee in time.
• Once this is done, VdL is set to lay out the full slate of nominees on 11 September. At present her request that the member states present a gender-balanced College of Commissioners has been roundly ignored, with only seven out of 27 countries putting forward women so far.
• Rather than ask the countries to reconsider their nominations, VdL is set to allow the European Parliament to vote on individual Commissioners in their respective committees relevant to their assigned portfolio. These hearings will start late Sep/early Oct.
• As Euractiv notes, "In 2019, after Parliament dumped the initial French candidate for commissioner, Sylvie Goulard, the blame for her failure was put on French President Macron rather than Goulard’s prospective boss, Ursula von der Leyen. If MEPs trash several of the incoming commissioners, she can pass the blame back to the countries that nominated them."