Von der Leyen’s New EU Team Confirmed as Trump’s Term Awaits
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has a new team in place, just in time to prepare for the return of Donald Trump.
The European Parliament on Wednesday voted to confirm her team of 26 commissioners, who will take office by Dec. 1.
Charged with rejuvenating Europe’s competitiveness, the EU’s executive arm will first need to figure out if it will be able to boost financial and military support for Ukraine if Trump pulls back US aid. And as the EU risks a trade confrontation with Beijing, it may have to cope with another one with Washington.
Von der Leyen told the European Parliament Wednesday that her new commission’s first initiative will be a “Competitiveness Compass” that would “frame our work for the rest of the term” by focusing on closing the innovation gap with the US and China, a decarbonization plan and increasing security while reducing dependencies.
“Our freedom and sovereignty depend more than ever on our economic strength. Our security depends on our ability to compete, to innovate and to produce,” she said. “And our social model depends on a growing economy while facing demographic change.”
Von der Leyen announced that she will be personally leading a strategic dialogue on the future of the car industry in Europe to bring together all the players and come up with solutions “as this industry goes through a deep and disruptive transition.”
She added, “Together we have to make sure that the future of cars will continue to be made in Europe.”
Her new team is taking over just as many of the EU’s traditional political leaders — particularly in Germany and France — are struggling to remain in power and confront the rise of populist forces. Those dynamics could end up giving additional leverage to von der Leyen, EU officials said.
One of her most influential vice presidents is expected to be Teresa Ribera, a Spanish socialist who will take over a broad portfolio including competition and the climate transition. France’s Stephane Sejourne will be a vice president responsible for industrial policy. Estonia’s Kaja Kallas will become the bloc’s foreign policy chief.
Maros Sefcovic, a Slovak diplomat who will be the longest-serving member of the commission, will be responsible for trade, economic security and EU-UK relations. And former Portuguese finance minister Maria Luis Albuquerque will have the financial services dossier.
One of the commission’s most difficult initiatives will be coming up with a long-term budget for the 2028-2034 period that would garner the unanimous backing of the 27 EU leaders.
Von der Leyen, a former German defense minister, has also said that the overarching priority for the next five years will be boosting the region’s productivity given the ground lost in the global race against US firms and the aggressive competition from China.
Along with Portugal’s Antonio Costa, the incoming president of the European Council, von der Leyen will have to find a way to persuade fiscally conservative nations to pour in funds to cover an annual investment gap of around €800 billion ($841 billion) for needs including defense and clean-tech development, according to an estimate from former European Central Bank president Mario Draghi.
Fragile Coalition
To get to this point, von der Leyen had to navigate the thorny politics of the fragile coalition in the parliament that gave her a second five-year term earlier this year. Lawmakers from mainstream parties and the Greens, who backed her in July, ended up approving her college of commissioners, together with members of the far-right European Conservatives and Reformists Party.
In the days leading up to the vote, von der Leyen’s center-right European People’s Party, the largest group in the parliament, and the Socialists clashed over the confirmation of Ribera following her handling of the worst floods in Spain in decades. The EPP also backed Italy’s Raffaele Fitto for a commission vice presidency, a move initially highly contested by the Socialists.
Some lawmakers remain concerned that von der Leyen constructed her next commission with overlapping portfolios that could lead to clashes, which in turn could give her more room to make final decisions herself.
In her first term, von der Leyen expanded the power of her post, spearheading a muscular response to the Covid epidemic and charting the bloc’s strong response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In her second five-year term, she will likely need to rely more on her team to take the lead on how to boost Europe’s competitiveness, an EU diplomat cautioned.
(Updates with von der Leyen leading car dialogue starting in sixth paragraph)
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