02.09.2024

The majority of the designated candidates bring significant experience from their current and/or previous roles in national governments or in Brussels, mainly as commissioner, minister, or MEP. The most prestigious posts in the executive will be held by women, with von der Leyen as Commission President and former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas who is expected to become head of EU foreign policy and thus one of the Commission’s Vice-Presidents. The fact that the majority of member states have nominated a men jeopardises von der Leyen’s goal to establish a gender-balanced cabinet (Link).

In previous election cycles, the EU Parliament has often rejected at least one of the Commissioners-designate, as was the case in 2019 with the Commissioners-designate from Romania and Hungary due to conflicts of interest. Politically, this move allows the EU Parliament to assert its role as a powerful institution vis-à-vis the EU Member States and the designated President of the Commission (Link).

The designated commissioners are:

• Austria: Magnus BRUNNER; current job: Austrian finance minister
• Belgium: Hadja LAHBIB; current job: Foreign minister of Belgium
• Bulgaria: Two candidates: Ekaterina Zaharieva (current job; Member of the Bulgarian Parlament) and Julian Popov (in office as minister of environment and water from 2023 until 2024) 
• Croatia: Dubravka ŠUICA; current job: European commissioner for democracy and demography
• Cyprus: Costas KADIS; current job: Acting dean at the School of Health Sciences at Frederick University in Cyprus (previously served as Cyprus’ minister of health, education and culture, and agriculture and environment)
• Czech Republic: Jozef SÍKELA; current job:  Czech industry and trade minister
• Denmark: Dan Jørgensen, current position: Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy since 2022
• Estonia: Kaja KALLAS; current job:  Estonian prime minister
• Finland: Henna VIRKKUNEN; current job: Member of the European Parliament (European People’s Party)
• France: Thierry BRETON; current job: European commissioner for internal market and services
• Germany: Ursula VON DER LEYEN; current job and job in the President of the European Commission
• Greece: Apostolos TZITZIKOSTAS; current job: first vice-president of the European Commitee of the Regions
• Hungary: Olivér VÁRHELYI; current job: European commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement
• Ireland: Michael MCGRATH; current job: Irish finance minister
• Italy: Raffaele Fitto, current job: Minister for European Affairs; before (2014 – 2022) MEP
• Latvia: Valdis DOMBROVSKIS; current job: European Commission executive vice-president for an economy that works for people/European commissioner for trade
• Lithuania: Andrius KUBILIUS; current job: Member of the European Parliament
• Luxembourg: Christophe HANSEN; current job: Member of the European Parliament (Socialists)
• Malta: Glenn MICALLEF; current job: Prime Minister Robert Abela’s adviser on EU affairs, after serving as Abela’s ‘sherpa’ for four years
• The Netherlands: Wopke HOEKSTRA, Current job: European commissioner for climate action
• Poland: Piotr SERAFIN; current job: Poland’s ambassador to the EU
• Portugal: Maria Luís Albuquerque; current jobs: Member of the PSD National Council and member of the supervisory board of the European subsidiary of the North American company Morgan Stanley; served as Minister of State and Finance from 2013 – 2015
• Romania: Victor NEGRESCU; current job: Vice-president of the European Parliament
• Slovakia: Maroš Šefčovič; current job: European Commission executive vice-president for the European Green Deal/Commission vice-president for interinstitutional relations
• Slovenia: Tomaž VESEL; current job: Lawyer, former president of the Slovenian court of auditors
• Spain: Teresa RIBERA; current job: Spain’s deputy prime minister and minister for the ecological transition
• Sweden: Jessika ROSWALL; current job: Sweden’s minister for EU affairs.