On Tuesday 17 September, Commission Present-elect Ursula von der Leyen published her long-awaited list of European Commissioner-designates and the allocation of their portfolios. The presentation of the Commissioner-designates and their responsibilities is a key step in the transition to the 2024-2029 legislative term. The process for selecting candidate Commissioners has been complex so far, as von der Leyen needs to balance national interests with the various demands of the political groupings in the European Parliament. In addition, in her objective to ensure gender-balanced College of Commissioners von der Leyen had requested each EU Member State to nominate one male and one female candidate but was met with resistance with many countries only nominating a male candidate.

The structure of the College of Commissioners presented today shows that von der Leyen has chosen to appoint five Executive Vice-Presidents who will be in charge of mostly horizontal policies. They are:

  • Teresa Ribera Rodríguez, Executive Vice-President for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition.
  • Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy.
  • Stéphane Séjourné, Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy.
  • Roxana Mînzatu, Executive Vice-President for People, Skills and Preparedness.
  • Raffaele Fitto, Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms.

The five Executive Vice-Presidents will oversee the work of the other twenty Commissioners in charge of the more vertical policies. The College of Commissioners is completed with the EU High Representative/Vice-Present for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who will have a more independent role.

Maria Luís Albuquerque has been nominated as the European Commissioner-designate for Financial Services and the Savings and Investment Union. A Portuguese citizen, she was Minister of Finance and Planning between 2013 and 2015. Prior to that, Albuquerque was the Secretary of State for Treasury from 2011 until 2013. Albuquerque was a member of the European Commission High-level Forum on Capital Markets Union in which she was the Chair of its Subgroup on Retail Investor Participation. In her Commissioner role, she would work under the guidance of the Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy, a role that has been given to former French Minister of Foreign Affairs Stéphane Séjourné.  If confirmed, Maria Luís Albuquerque will take over the role from current Commissioner Mairead McGuinness.

In the mission letter to Albuquerque, von der Leyen has set out the priorities for her term. Among other things, Albuquerque has been asked to:

  • Develop a European Savings and Investments Union to channel more savings towards investments.
  • Address the fragmentation of capital markets by supporting the design of simple and low-cost savings and investment products at EU level.
  • Scale up sustainable finance and ensure that the EU remains a global leader on this topic.
  • Explore measures to increase the availability of venture and other risk capital and promote the scaling up of investment funder.
  • Remove barriers to the consolidation of stock exchanges and post-trading infrastructure.
  • Improve the supervisory system at EU level.
  • Assess artificial intelligence deployment in the financial sector, which could improve digital finance and payments.
  • Ensure the implementation and enforcement of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing package.

Next steps

The Commissioner-designates will have to be confirmed by the European Parliament. Although the European Parliament must approve or reject the proposed College of Commissioners as a whole, it will organize confirmation hearings with each designate. These hearings are expected to take place in the week of 04 November 2024. Before that, the European Parliament Legal Affairs Committee will undertake a conflict of interest check on each candidate.

Following feedback from the European Parliament, European Commission President-elect von der Leyen may decide to change candidates or swap portfolios, to ensure that the College of Commissioners as a whole will be confirmed. It is expected that the new European Commission will start its work on 01 December 2024.