Testing time for Ursula von der Leyen

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen into her second term is trying to push the representation of women in the European Commission, which acts as the executive of the European Union (EU). She says when she took over as the EU chief, the representation of women was 22 per cent. She now is pushing it to reach 40 per cent.

But it has not been an easy task. In her second term, she asked each of the 27 member countries to recommend a man and a woman she could choose from. But it is the men who seem to remain the larger group. But things have improved.

The President of the European Parliament is Roberta Metsola from Malta. Von der Leyen is a conservative politician from Germany. Of the six vice presidents in the commission, she picked up four women including Kajas Kallas from Estonia, who is also the foreign policy chief. Then she picked Spanish Socialist Teresa Ribera to lead the green transition, as well as being the competition head. The other two women vice presidents are Finland’s Henna Virkkunen, who will be rule of law and digital leader, and Romania’s Roxana Minzatu as social affairs leader.

There was controversy and trouble beyond choosing women in leadership position. She got France’s Stephane Sejourne as a vice president and forced out her critic, another Frenchman, Thierry Bretton, who had resigned and objected to Von der Leyen’s style of leadership. He called it “questionable governance”.

The other controversial appointment is Italy’s far-right Brothers of Italy Raffele Fitto on the recommendation of Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni. There is the apprehension that it would be difficult for the Italian representative to go through the confirmation hearings in the European Parliament.

Von der Leyen stands in the questionable centrist position of a conservative but she is forced to make concessions to the far right because the far right parties have made considerable gains in the June parliamentary elections. In contrast to the far-right parties which are all climate change deniers, von der Leyen is strongly committed to a green agenda. She holds the balance of power and in some ways of ideologies in the EU.

Reacting to Fitto’s appointment, Manon Aubry of The Left Group in the European Parliament said, “For the first time, our European executive, will have among its leaders, someone who comes from the far right. It’s without precedent.” A Green member, Rasmus Andresen, said that it was “completely incomprehensible” that a person from the far right is chosen an executive vice president. She said, “Can anti-European manage EU funds?”

It is indeed a fact that like all far-right parties, Brothers of Italy, is also anti-EU. But when its leader Meloni became prime minister, she toned down her anti-EU rhetoric. And in some ways von der Leyen has created a stake for the far-right party in the EU power structure. It is the same story with France’s far-right Nationalist Rally of Marine Le Pen. Le Pen too is strongly anti-EU and even holds out the threat that France should exit the union like Britain did.

But there is the realisation that the EU is advantageous not only to the weaker and poorer countries in the continent but also the stronger ones like Germany and France. There is a rethink even in Britain whether leaving the EU was a good idea. Britain finds itself alone, and it wants to rebuild some sort of bridge with the continent. Von der Leyen is a vocal defender of EU and yet open to negotiations will all. She is a pragmatic conservative, something that Europe badly needs today.