European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is increasing pressure on EU member states, urging them to nominate more women to the positions of European Commissioners. She wants to create a team where men will not prevail, informs Political.
According to two EU officials, the failure to achieve gender parity could be “embarrassing” for an institution that actively promotes gender equality and acts as a defender of equality. This is especially important in light of the fact that three key positions in the EU are already held by women: von der Leyen herself as president of the European Commission, Kaia Callas at the head of the EU diplomatic service, and Roberta Metzol as president of the European Parliament.
Experts and politicians who support von der Leyen’s initiative warn that the Commission could become less effective due to the insufficient number of women among its members.
Von der Leyen’s efforts are already showing results, with Belgium announcing it will appoint a woman as commissioner and Romania agreeing to replace its proposed male candidate with a woman.
Three diplomats told Politico that von der Leyen has pressured several smaller EU countries, including Slovenia and Malta, to revise their nominations and nominate women over men. In particular, she called on Malta to retain the current EU Commissioner Helena Dalli instead of the male candidate proposed by Prime Minister Robert Abela, Glenn Micallef. However, according to one of the diplomats, Abela refused to change his decision so as not to undermine his authority.
Von der Leyen also faced national capitals ignoring her pleas for two candidates for each commissioner post – one male and one female. Only Bulgaria complied with this request by publicly offering nominations of both genders.
If the situation does not change, von der Leyen could lead the Commission with the largest number of men in recent years, returning to the level of gender imbalance observed under Juncker (2014-2019).
