Politico: Roxana Minzatu May Become EU Jobs and Social Rights Commissioner

EC President, Ursula von der Leyen will announce on Wednesday in the European Parliament who will occupy the key positions in her team. Based on dozens of conversations with officials from the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council, as well as officials in various European capitals, Politico makes predictions about how portfolios will be divided in the EC.

Roxana Minzatu could be the new commissioner for jobs, social rights and housing.

Von der Leyen must consider geographic balance, political balance and gender balance, writes Politico. European leaders have also lobbied hard to ensure their commissioner gets a good portfolio. Meanwhile, the various political factions that support von der Leyen in the European Parliament have pushed her to ensure that their political families have enough influence in the next Commission.

Von der Leyen therefore keeps the secret tight, leaving even future commissioners in the dark about their future jobs. Here are Politico’s predictions for how the offices will be divided.

So, Romanian Roxana Mînzatu might be Commissioner for Jobs, Social Rights and Housing. The housing and social rights portfolio must go to a socialist – a sign of the centre-left’s inclusion of these issues as top items in the election manifesto. Given the limited number of Socialist nominees, Mînzatu could get the job, thus rewarding Romania for switching from electing a man to a woman (and thus helping von der Leyen move toward her goal of having a gender-balanced Commission). The former minister of European funds was active in several fields holding political positions. An alternative could be an economic portfolio.

A few days ago, the same source, Politico, was reporting that Roxana Mînzatu, Romania’s female proposal for a member position in the European executive might take over the Cohesion portfolio.