Brussels: What are the “top jobs”? Let’s explore together how the EU’s top positions are filled

Translated by Valeria D’Alessandro

In the past few weeks, there has been a lot of discussion about the “top jobs” at the European Council. What are these “top jobs”? They are the highest offices of the European Union: the Commission President, the President of the European Council, and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

Negotiations between heads of state have decided to renew the German popular Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as Commission President, while the Portuguese socialist Antonio Costa will lead the Council, and the Estonian liberal Kaja Kallas will be nominated as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. This marks the first time a Baltic country obtains such a high position. This agreement is intended to satisfy the coalition to be formed in the European Parliament after the elections, uniting the European People’s Party, the Social Democrats, and the liberals of Renew Europe. As shown by this composition, nothing has changed since 2019 elections, where the coalition was the same, with the European People’s Party as the most voted.

Dissatisfaction of Right-Wing parties

Italian PM Giorgia Meloni was the first to express her dissatisfaction, denouncing that her voice remained unheard during the negotiations. She added that the presented proposals had already been decided in a parallel agreement between the heads of states of the parties in the popular-social democrats-liberal coalition. Hungarian President Viktor Orbán maintained that the election results suggested that the European Parliament should have been right-oriented; but these expectations were crushed by the coalition of the Popular Party with the Social Democrats and the liberals – an unsurprising result, considering the similarities with the previous 2019 coalition. Giorgia Meloni’s statement is accurate: the three top jobs nominations had already been decided at the informal dinner between heads of state and governments of Monday, May 17^th. How was the Italian government excluded?

The nomination of these top jobs is part of a complex process that leads to the appointment of the European Commission for the next five years.

More into details:

1. Nomination of the President of the Commission: The process starts with the nomination of the President of the European Commission. The European Council, composed of the heads of States of member countries, proposes one candidate for this position as well as for the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, who also serves as one of the Vice presidents of the Commission. The proposal takes into account the result of the European Parliament elections, as the candidates must then be approved by the European Parliament with absolute majority.

2. Selection of the Commissioners: Once the President of the Commission is approved, the next step is the formation of the College of Commissioners. Each member state proposes a candidate to become commissioner. The President of the Commission, in collaboration with the Council, assigns each commissioner a specific portfolio (for example, trade, environment, economy, ecc.).

3. Parliamentary hearings: Commissioner candidates undergo an hearing process in front of the committees of the European Parliament relevant to their portfolio. During these hearings, candidates must respond to questions about their plans and their vision for the future of the portfolio they are going to manage.

4. Approval of the College of Commissioners: After the hearings, the European Parliament votes on the entire College of Commissioners, including the President and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, who also serves as Vice president of the Commission. To be approved, the College must obtain a majority of votes in favor.

5 Official Nomination: If the European Parliament approves the College of Commissioners, the European Counsil will formally adopt the nomination of the Commission. Once the Commission is nominated, it can begin its term, which lasts for five years. In contrast, the President of the European Council is nominated solely by the heads of state and government of the member states, not by the European Parliament, for renewable term of two and half years.

The agreement on “top-jobs” is still at the first step of the process and is concluded when a 55% qualified majority is reached among the member countries (15 out of 24), representing at least 65% of the population of the EU. In this case, the agreement was signed by 22 Member countries, so the approval of the Italian government was not necessary, but it will still play a significant role in the next steps.

What’s next now? What should we expect?

Nominations will be voted on in the European Parliament at the plenary session in September. If Ursula von der Leyen is approved – as is almost certain – she will be responsible for nominating the other 26 commissionaires. During this phase, there will be further negotiations with the governments of the member countries, as it will be necessary to nominate a commissioner from each member state, including Italy. We can expect is that Italy will secure the nomination of a significant commissioner, not only because it is one of the most important member countries, but also because in the coalition of our government Forza Italia, a party in the Italian government coalition, is part of the European People’s Party (EPP) in Brussels and Strasbourg, which currently holds the majority.

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