Von der Leyen Commission

Von der Leyen Commission
7th Commission of the European Union
The College of Commissioners in 2021
Date formed	1 December 2019
People and organisations
President of the Commission	Ursula von der Leyen (EPP, GER)
Vice-President(s) of the Commission	First Vice President : Maroš Šefčovič (PES, SLK) Other Executive Vice Presidents : Margrethe Vestager (ALDE, DEN) Valdis Dombrovskis (EPP, LAT)
No. of commissioners	27
Member parties	EPP (11)   PES (8)   ALDE Party (5)   Independent (1)   ECR Party (1)   EGP (1)
Status in legislature	421 / 705 Coalition (421):   EPP Group (175)   S&D (144)   Renew (102) Support (30) (unofficially):   ECR (24, PiS only)   NI (6, M5S only)
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 and is to last until the 2024 elections. It has Ursula von der Leyen as its president and it further consists of one commissioner from each of the member states of the European Union (other than the President's state, Germany).

The commission was scheduled to take office on 1 November 2019; however, the French, Hungarian and Romanian commissioner-candidates lost their confirmation votes by the European Parliament in early October 2019, ^[1] so 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

See also: European Commission § Appointment, and Ursula von der Leyen § Commission presidency

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 three days of negotiations between leaders of the member states. Von der Leyen faced many critics, especially among MEPs, since the European Council ignored the so-called spitzenkandidat system when choosing her for the position.

On 16 July 2019, the 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 received the support of three largest political groups in the Parliament (EPP, S&D and RE); during the debate the conservative Polish party Law and Justice with 24 MEPs and the Italian Five Stars Movement (M5S) with 14 MEPs declared their support. 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 the S&D group, part of which is also German Social Democratic Party, which publicly opposed Von der Leyen because of 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 as the next EU High Representative. Consent was given on 26 July 2019, following which the European Council officially appointed Borrell as the next High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on 5 August 2019. ^{[4] [5] [6]}

The commission was approved by the European Parliament on 27 November 2019, receiving 461 votes, with 157 against and 89 abstentions. EPP, S&D, Renew Europe and half of the ECR voted in favour. The Greens/EFA abstained. ^[7]

Coalition		Commission	Votes cast	Majority	In favour	Against	Abstain	Source
	EPP	Von der Leyen Commission	707	374	461	157	89	[8]
	S&D
	RE

College of Commissioners

Even before Von der Leyen's confirmation, she pledged to renominate Frans Timmermans, the spitzenkandidat of the Party of European Socialists as the First Vice President. Margrethe Vestager, one of the leading candidates of the Alliance of Liberal and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE), was 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, a man and a woman, 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.

Von der Leyen Commission
Confirmation by the European Parliament on 27 November 2019 • Appointment by the European Council on 28 November 2019
Portfolio	Designee		Portfolio	Designee		Portfolio	Designee
President		Ursula von der Leyen of Germany (EPP–CDU)	First Vice President and Executive Vice President — European Green Deal Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight		Maroš Šefčovič of Slovakia (PES–SMER-SD)	Executive Vice President and European Commissioner — Competition		Margrethe Vestager of Denmark (ALDE–B)
[9] [10]			[9] [10]			[9] [11] [12] [10]
Executive Vice President and European Commissioner — Trade		Valdis Dombrovskis of Latvia (EPP–V)	Vice President and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy		Josep Borrell of Spain (PES–PSOE)	Vice President and European Commissioner — Promoting the European Way of Life		Margaritis Schinas of Greece (EPP–ND)
[9] [13] [10]			[9] [4] [5] [6] [10]			[9] [14] [10]
Vice President and European Commissioner — Values and Transparency		Věra Jourová of Czech Republic (ALDE–ANO)	Vice President and European Commissioner — Democracy and Demography		Dubravka Šuica of Croatia (EPP–HDZ)	European Commissioner — Climate Action		Wopke Hoekstra of the Netherlands (EPP–CDA)
[15] [10]			[16] [10]			[10]
European Commissioner — Budget		Johannes Hahn of Austria (EPP–ÖVP)	European Commissioner — Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth		Iliana Ivanova of Bulgaria (EPP–GERB)	European Commissioner — Jobs and Social Rights		Nicolas Schmit of Luxembourg (PES–LSAP)
[17] [18] [10]			[9] [19] [10]			[9] [10]
European Commissioner — Economy		Paolo Gentiloni of Italy (PES–PD)	European Commissioner — Agriculture		Janusz Wojciechowski of Poland (ECR–PiS)	European Commissioner — Internal Market		Thierry Breton of France (None–Ind.)
[20] [10]			[21] [10]			[22] [10]
European Commissioner — Cohesion and Reforms		Elisa Ferreira of Portugal (PES–PS)	European Commissioner — Health and Food Safety		Stella Kyriakides of Cyprus (EPP–DISY)	European Commissioner — Justice		Didier Reynders of Belgium (ALDE–MR)
[23] [24] [10]			[9] [25] [10]			[26] [10]
European Commissioner — Equality		Helena Dalli of Malta (PES–PL)	European Commissioner — Home Affairs		Ylva Johansson of Sweden (PES–S)	European Commissioner — Crisis Management		Janez Lenarčič of Slovenia (ALDE–Ind.)
[27] [10]			[28] [10]			[29] [30] [10]
European Commissioner — Transport		Adina Vălean of Romania (EPP–PNL)	European Commissioner — Neighbourhood and Enlargement		Olivér Várhelyi of Hungary (EPP–Ind.)	European Commissioner — International Partnerships		Jutta Urpilainen of Finland (PES–SDP)
[31] [10]			[9] [10]			[32] [33] [10]
European Commissioner — Energy		Kadri Simson of Estonia (ALDE–EK)	European Commissioner — Environment, Oceans and Fisheries		Virginijus Sinkevičius of Lithuania (EGP–LVŽS)	European Commissioner — Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union		Mairead McGuinness of Ireland (EPP–FG)
[34] [35] [10]			[36] [10]			[37]

Changes

• 26 August 2020: Following Golfgate and a controversy about his travels in Ireland in preceding weeks, which conflicted with the Irish COVID-19 guidelines, Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan resigned. ^[38]
• 12 October 2020: Mairead McGuinness, Ireland's nominee to replace Phil Hogan is confirmed by the European Parliament and appointed as a European Commissioner by the Council of the European Union. ^[39]
• 15 May 2023: Mariya Gabriel resigns as Commissioner after being tasked with forming the next Bulgarian government. ^[40]
• 22 August 2023 Frans Timmermans resigns as Executive Vice President for the European Green deal following his selection as a candidate for Prime Minister of the Netherlands in the 2023 Dutch general election. ^[41]
• 19 September 2023: Iliana Ivanova, Bulgaria's nominee to replace Mariya Gabriel is confirmed by the European Parliament and appointed as a European Commissioner by the Council of the European Union. ^[42]
• 9 October 2023: Wopke Hoekstra, Netherlands's nominee to replace Frans Timmermans is confirmed by the European Parliament and appointed as a European Commissioner by the Council of the European Union. ^[43]

Commission departments

Result of the election of the commission, in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, 27 November 2019

Directorates-General

Directorates-General of the Von der Leyen Commission

Directorate-Generals		Relevant Commissioner
Name	Abbr.
Agriculture and Rural Development	AGRI	Janusz Wojciechowski
Budget	BUDG	Johannes Hahn
Climate Action	CLIMA	Wopke Hoekstra
Communications Networks, Content and Technology	CONNECT	Thierry Breton
Communication	COMM	Ursula von der Leyen
Competition	COMP	Margrethe Vestager
Defence Industry and Space	DEFIS	Thierry Breton
Economic and Financial Affairs	ECFIN	Paolo Gentiloni
Education, Youth, Sport and Culture	EAC	Iliana Ivanova
Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion	EMPL	Nicolas Schmit
Energy	ENER	Kadri Simson
Environment	ENV	Virginijus Sinkevičius
European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations	ECHO	Janez Lenarčič
Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations	NEAR	Olivér Várhelyi
Eurostat - European statistics	EUROSTAT	Paolo Gentiloni
Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union	FISMA	Mairead McGuinness
Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority	HERA	Stella Kyriakides
Health and Food Safety	SANTE	Stella Kyriakides
Human Resources and Security	HR	Johannes Hahn
Informatics	DIGIT	Johannes Hahn
Internal Audit Service	IAS	Didier Reynders
Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs	GROW	Thierry Breton
International Partnerships	INTPA	Jutta Urpilainen
Interpretation	SCIC	Johannes Hahn
Joint Research Centre	JRC	Iliana Ivanova
Justice and Consumers	JUST	Didier Reynders & Helena Dalli
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries	MARE	Virginijus Sinkevičius
Migration and Home Affairs	HOME	Ylva Johansson
Mobility and Transport	MOVE	Adina Vălean
Regional and Urban Policy	REGIO	Elisa Ferreira
Structural Reform Support	REFORM	Elisa Ferreira
Research and Innovation	RTD	Iliana Ivanova
Taxation and Customs Union	TAXUD	Paolo Gentiloni
Trade	TRADE	Valdis Dombrovskis
Translation	DGT	Johannes Hahn

Executive agencies and service departments

Executive agencies

Executive agencies of the Von der Leyen Commission

Executive Agency		Head
Name	Abbr.
Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency	EACEA	Sophie Beernaerts (acting)
European Research Council Executive Agency	ERCEA	Laurence Moreau
European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency	EISMEA	Jean-David Malo
Research Executive Agency	REA	Marc Tachelet
Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency	CINEA	Paloma Aba Garrote (acting)
Health and Digital Executive Agency	HADEA	Marina Zanchi

Service departments

Service departments of the Von der Leyen Commission

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 example of the 2014 European Election, in advance of the 2019 elections the main European political parties named so-called spitzenkandidaten, or leading candidates, who were the parties' candidates to become the next president of the European Commission. All of the parties named at least one candidate; some named two, while the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE), which officially opposed the system of spitzenkandidaten, introduced "Team Europe," which consisted of several high-ranking European politicians. However, other parties perceived those candidates, especially Margrethe Vestager of Denmark, as leading candidates.

The leading candidates were:

Party		Leading candidates
	European People's Party	Manfred Weber
	Party of European Socialists	Frans Timmermans
	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party	Nicola Beer Emma Bonino Violeta Bulc Katalin Cseh Luis Garicano Guy Verhofstadt Margrethe Vestager
	Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe	Jan Zahradil
	European Green Party	Bas Eickhout Ska Keller
	Party of the European Left	Violeta Tomić Nico Cué

After winning 2019 European election, the 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 for the job. However, Weber faced strong opposition from the liberal-leaning French President Emmanuel Macron and the ALDE, and from the Party of European Socialists (PES) as well; opposition was driven by Weber's lack of experience, since he had only previously served as MEP and never held any governmental position. ^[44] The PES strongly supported the candidature of Frans Timmermans, who also had support from most of the ALDE members of the European Council. (Andrej Babiš, then Czech Prime Minister, is a member of the ALDE but also of the Visegrad Four, which strongly opposed Timmermans because of his support for migration quotas and inability to reach compromises. ^[45] ) The 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 leaders again for a special meeting that lasted from 30 June until 2 July 2019. Over three days of negotiations, the EPP gave up on Weber becoming the President of the commission; it seemed that Timmermans might be nominated, especially after he met with Bulgarian Prime Minister and EPP member Boyko Borisov at the Bulgarian Embassy in Belgium during the meeting of the European Council. Naming Timmermans President of the European Commission would have been a part of the so-called Osaka deal, a plan that was formed by several EU leaders (Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, Giuseppe Conte, Donald Tusk, Mark Rutte, and Pedro Sánchez) during the 2019 G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan.

However, the opposition from Visegrad Four, now joined by Croatia and Italy, was still strong, and Timmermans could not win a Council majority. Other names mentioned during the negotiations included Michel Barnier, Kristalina Georgieva and Andrej Plenković; it became clear after the Council ended that Plenković's name had been introduced by Commission Secretary-General Martin Selmayr, who is Plenković's close friend. The candidature was rejected by Macron, who opposed the personal ambitions of leaders. ^[46]

When Ursula von der Leyen (EPP)'s name emerged as a potential candidate, it was a surprise and she faced many critics, mainly because she had not been a spitzenkandidat. The German Social Democratic Party, part 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. Nevertheless, all other European Council members voted in favor, and she was nominated as the next President of the European Commission.

Brexit vacancy

With the three month Brexit delay requested, the United Kingdom had not nominated any British commissioner. This was 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. ^[47]

The United Kingdom left the European Union at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020, so the position of British commissioner remained vacant until its automatic abolition when Brexit occurred.

Policy

Geopolitical Commission

Von der Leyen, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Joe Biden at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow on 1 November 2021

From the outset of her mandate as President of the European Commission, von der Leyen stated her intention to have a “geopolitical commission.” ^[48] The French President Emmanuel Macron is the most important driving force behind the ambition of a geopolitical commission. His vision is that the EU must become a political and strategic player with one voice. ^[49] Critics have pointed out that by flying the geopolitical flag, Commission President von der Leyen has exposed the weaknesses of the EU as a whole in playing a decisive role at the high diplomatic table. ^[50]

COVID-19

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU passed the Next Generation EU package, worth 750 billion euros. Von der Leyen's Commission proposed the package on 27 May 2020. ^[51]

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