The Brief – Everyone gets a share

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has neatly shared out top jobs among the political camps in the next EU executive, in an effort to give the European Parliament as few reasons as possible to meddle in her plan.

But the confusing division of labour indicates a broader attempt to reassure everyone - governments and political camps - that they got their share.

Von der Leyen has decided to create six vice presidents. She has split these positions among four of the five political families represented by the commissioners-designate, and the governments who nominated them.

The only group missing is the nationalist Patriots for Europe, of which Hungary's nominee - and incumbent commissioner - Olivér Várhelyi is a member, via Viktor Orbán's Fidesz.

There are more political groups in the European Parliament - who still have to decide whether to approve the new crop of Commissioners - but not among the national governments' chosen nominees, which is all von der Leyen has to choose from.

The six vice presidents will be responsible for broad policy briefs that mostly encompass the narrower portfolios given to the other 20 ordinary commissioners. But it is not always clear where one portfolio ends and another begins.

For example, Croatia's Dubravka Šuica will be the Mediterranean Commissioner. According to von der Leyen's mission letter - essentially her job description - Šuica will have to work closely with Vice President Kaja Kallas, the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, which is to be expected.

But Šuica's mission letter covers diverse areas such as migration, energy, transport, jobs and even clean tech. That touches on the portfolios of several other commissioners-to-be, including: Denmark's Dan Jørgensen, energy and housing commissioner; Austria's Magnus Brunner, internal affairs and migration commissioner; and the Czech Republic's Jozef Sikela, international partnerships commissioner.

If Kallas was responsible for coordinating all these commissioners, then the overlap might not matter so much - but she is not.

In any case, the overlapping job titles are an organisational headache for the European Parliament, which needs to figure out which of its committees will be responsible for scrutinising each commissioner-designate.

Officials are gradually briefing journalists on how the new structure is supposed to work, but the picture remains fuzzy. The official organogram published by the Commission is vaguely reminiscent of a high-school worksheet on atomic structure, with the vice presidents floating around the outside like electrons in superposition (physicists can send complaints to Euractiv's editors).

One of the EU's many oddities is that the number of commissioners - and consequently the number of portfolios - is precisely determined by the number of EU member states, each of which sends one commissioner.

Unlike a prime minister doling out ministerial jobs, for the Commission president, assigning portfolios is less a question of what needs doing than it is of finding something for everyone to do. This task has become more complicated every time the EU has expanded, from six countries in 1958 to 27 today.

In addition to finding a job for everyone, von der Leyen has to balance the interests of both pan-EU political groups and national governments.

The expanding number of portfolios, however, also provides an opportunity for the president to get creative. For example, she can assign job titles that imply more than they mean, or keep the hierarchy vague enough to elevate certain people without making anyone look too subordinate.

More importantly, it allows von der Leyen to wield political power in a more presidential way than would have been possible in a smaller EU. Each individual commissioner necessarily carries less political weight than they would have in the past, because now each is one among many. But that in turn brings von der Leyen's role presiding over them all the more sharply into focus.

Like the shady dealings of First Lieutenant Milo Minderbinder in Joseph Heller's Catch 22 - who grows his mess hall operations into a vast, one-man trading business - the legitimacy of the expanding enterprise that is the European Commission depends on maintaining the impression that everyone gets a share.

The Roundup

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Mario Draghi’s report on European competitiveness was sharply criticised by far-left and far-right MEPs in a European Parliamentary debate in Strasbourg on Tuesday (17 September) but received strong backing from Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s centrist alliance.

Slovenia’s national parliament is expected to end a procedural hold-up that has prevented the formal nomination of the country’s European Commission candidate on Wednesday (18 September).

The incoming European Commission will face a heavy burden when it comes to tech, tasked with proposing 30 acts and initiatives, according to the mission letters published on Tuesday (17 September).

The European Union’s General Court annulled the European Commission’s €1.49 billion fine on Google for anticompetitive behaviour with its AdSense product on Wednesday (18 September), leaving the Commission just over two months to appeal.

Look out for…

• Informal meeting of EU transport ministers, 19-20 September 2024
• EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell is in Gran Canaria, Spain, participating in the XVII edition of the Cotec Europe Symposium.
• European Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli gives a keynote speech on the G20 ministerial meeting in Rio-de-Janeiro and fighting inequality, in the plenary on behalf of Commissioner Urpilainen.
• European Commissioner for Budget and Administration Johannes Hahn gives a keynote speech at the “23. Österreichischer Europarechtstag 2024”.
• European Commission President Ursula von der LEYEN hosts a working lunch with the leaders of the six Western Balkan partners.
• Von der Layen will also be expected to visit Poland later in the day.
• EESC press point by European Economic and Social Committee President Oliver Ropke and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on imminent action on EU enlargement
• European Council President Charles Michel meets with the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Hristijan Mickoski.