The President-elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has announced on Tuesday the EC composition and the assigned portfolios.
Rovana Plumb is Romania’s proposal and has been assigned the Transports portfolio.
“Rovana Plumb (Romania) is a Member of the European Parliament (Vice-President of the Social and Democrats Group), and is a former national Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Minister of Labour, Minister of European Funds, Minister of Education and Minister of Transport. She will be in charge of the ‘Transport’ portfolio,” reads the presentation published on the EC website today.
“This team will shape the European Way: we will take bold action against climate change, build our partnership with the United States, define our relations with a more self-assertive China and be a reliable neighbour, for example to Africa. This team will have to stand up for our values and world-class standards. I want a Commission that is led with determination, that is clearly focused on the issues at hand and that provides answers. I want it to be a well-balanced, agile and modern Commission. This team will now have to gain the Parliament’s confidence. My Commission will be a geopolitical Commission committed to sustainable policies. And I want the European Union to be the guardian of multilateralism. Because we know that we are stronger by doing together what we cannot do alone,” said von der Leyen.
The new College will have eight Vice-Presidents, including the High-Representative of the Union for Foreign Policy and Security Policy (Josep Borrell). The Vice-Presidents are responsible for the top priorities in the Political Guidelines. the five VPs are: Josep Borrell (Spain, current Spanish Foreign Minister); Věra Jourová (Czech Republic, Commissioner in the Juncker Commission); Margaritis Schinas (Greece, former Member of the European Parliament, long-serving official of the European Commission); Maroš Šefčovič (Slovakia, Vice-President in the Juncker Commission); Dubravka Šuica (Croatia, Member of the European Parliament).
Three Executive Vice-Presidents will have a double function. They will be both Vice-President responsible for one of three core topics of the President-elect’s agenda and Commissioners.
All members of the College are set to visit every Member State in the first half of their mandate.
As a next step, the European Parliament has to give its consent to the entire College of Commissioners, including the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission.
This is preceded by hearings of the Commissioners-designate in the relevant Parliamentary committees, in line with Parliament’s Rules of Procedure.
Once the European Parliament has given its consent, the European Council formally appoints the European Commission, in line with Article 17(7) TEU.
See the list of all commissioners here.