EU Top Jobs and the Next Commission Formation

On 7 June 2024, citizens across the EU voted to elect 720 Members of the European Parliament. 54% of these MEPs were elected for the first time. However, the European elections were just the first step in a broader change (and continuation) of the guard of the European Union’s institutional leadership. This Just the Facts unpacks the various EU top jobs, and their associated responsibilities, as well as the people who will occupy them.

Roberta Metsola – President of the European Parliament

Roberta Metsola is the sitting president of the European Parliament. She was re-elected as the Parliament’s President during the first plenary session of the new Parliament on 16 July.

Metsola was born in Malta and became the first women to be elected to the Parliament after a by-election in 2013. Prior to being elected, she held positions in the Justice and Home Affairs Unit at the Permanent Representation of Malta to the EU (2004-2012) and as a legal adviser in the European External Action Service (2012-2013). Roberta Metsola is a member of the European People’s Party (EPP) political grouping. As an MEP, she served on the committee for Petitions (PETI) and the committee for the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE)

She was elected First Vice-Chair of the European Parliament in 2020. She was subsequently elected as President after the sitting President, David Sassoli, passed away in January of 2022. Roberta Metsola is the third women to hold the Presidency role and the youngest ever to be elected to the post.

The role of the President includes chairing the plenary sittings of Parliament, the Conference of Presidents and the Bureau. Political Groups, or groups of at least 36 MEPs, can nominate candidates for the position. The candidate must secure an absolute majority (over 50%) to be elected. If after three rounds, no majority is reached, the top two candidates with the highest number of votes will progress to a final round.  The candidate receiving the most votes in the final round will be declared the President of the Parliament. The process to elect the President is set out in Chapter 2, Rules (14-16) of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament.

António Costa – President of the European Council

Former Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, was elected as President of the European Council on 27 June.  António Costa entered politics after graduating from university. He held high-level positions in the Portuguese government such as Minister of Justice (1999-2002), Secretary of State of Parliamentary Affairs (1995-1999) and President of the Socialists’ party’s Parliament Group (2002-2004). In 2004, Costa served briefly in the European Parliament as an MEP for the S&D Group. He was elected as Vice-Chair of the Parliament but resigned his seat to become a Minister of State, following the 2005 elections in Portugal.  In 2015, he became the Prime Minister of Portugal where he served until 2019 and was re-elected for renewed term until his resignation in November 2023.

In 2023, António Costa, his advisers and other government officials were investigated by the Supreme Court of Justice on charges of corruption, embezzlement and influence peddling in connection with lithium mining and hydrogen production schemes. Costa resigned as Prime Minister in response to the investigation. Costa defended his innocence but stated the charges of are  “incompatible with the dignity of the office”. The investigation ongoing.

António Costa will be the first Socialist President of the European Council, with previous Presidents being Herman Van Rompuy (EPP), Donald Tusk (EPP) and Charles Michel (Renew). There is no formal process set out in the Rules of Procedure or Treaties for nominating candidates. The candidate must be elected by the European Council through a qualified majority vote.

According to Article 235(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TEFU), the President of the European Council does not have voting rights, instead they are responsible for chairing European Council meetings and helping to facilitate cohesion among members.

Ursula von der Leyen – President of the European Commission

The President is the Head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the EU. The EU Treaties empower the President to decide on the organisation of the Commission and assign portfolios to individual Commissioners. The role also includes chairing meetings of the College of Commissioners, leading the Commission’s work on implementing EU policies, and representing the Commission in European Council meetings, G7 and G20 summits, and major debates in the European Parliament and the Council.

The Commission President is appointed by the European Council (Heads of State of all EU Member States), with the approval of the European Parliament. On July 18, Ursula von der Leyen was approved by the Parliament for a second term. She was elected by 401 votes in a secret ballot, which was above the 361 needed for re-election.

The German native is now set to enter her second five-year term as President of the Commission. Prior to her role as Commission President, she worked as a German politician, serving as Minister of Defence (2013-2019), Minister for Labour and Social Affairs (2009-2013), and Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (2005-2009). Her academic background is in medicine and public health.

Across her 2019-2024 term, her priorities included the European Green Deal, promoting ‘our European way of life’ and creating a Europe fit for the digital age. Her new manifesto, published upon her election, prioritises:

• ‘A new plan for Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness’
• ‘A new era for European Defence and Security’
• ‘Supporting people, strengthening our societies and our social model’
• ‘Sustaining our quality of life: food security, water and nature’
• ‘Protecting our democracy, upholding our values’
• ‘A global Europe: Leveraging our power and partnerships’

Von der Leyen is the second German (Walter Hallstein, 1958-1967), and the first woman to ever hold the position of President of the European Commission.

Kaja Kallas – High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security

The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy is the EU’s chief diplomat. Appointed by the European Council (Heads of State and Government of all EU Member States) through a ‘qualified majority’ vote, the HRVP also serves as Vice-President of the Commission and therefore must have the approval of the Commission President. The HRVP has responsibility for managing the External Action Service and coordinating the Common Foreign and Security Policy. Along with leading the EU’s diplomatic network, and the European Defence Agency, the HRVP also chairs meetings between EU foreign, defence, trade and development ministers, building consensus among EU Member States.

Since its inception in 1999, the role of HRVP has been held by five individuals, with Kaja Kallas the third woman to hold the position. Prior to this, Kallas served as the first female Prime Minister of Estonia (2021-2024), the leader of the Estonian Reform Party (2018-2024), a member of the Estonian Parliament (2011-2014, 2019-2021), and an MEP (2014-2018). Her father, Siim Kallas, previously served as Prime Minister (2002-2003), and as a European Commissioner (2004-2014). Kallas is an experienced politician, and an outspoken critic of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Her appointment as HRVP makes her the first Eastern European to ever hold the role, and the first Estonian to take up an EU top job.

EU Commissioners

The European Commission in Brussels is made up of twenty-seven Commissioners from each EU Member State. This cohort is known as the “College of Commissioners”. Commissioners have a five-year mandate and are replaced following the European Parliament elections the same year. 

The deadline for EU Member States to nominate their candidates for Commissioners was 30 August 2024. Commissioners are the most senior executives at the European Commission and their portfolios span from agriculture to environment, and from trade to justice. It is usually the EU country’s governing party or coalition that nominates the Commissioner candidate.  

All Member States confirmed their nominations for the role of Commissioner. Recently re-elected European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, had requested each Member State to propose two candidates, a man and a woman. However, only one EU country proposed two candidates; Bulgaria. President von der Leyen’s recommendation was not legally binding.  

On 17 September, President von der Leyen confirmed the structure of the next European Commission and presented her College of Commissioners and their associated portfolios at a press conference in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The College of Commissioners will have 11 women Commissioners, representing a gender balance of 41% women and 59% men.  

The next steps included a series of hearings with the Commissioners-designate and specialist Members of the European Parliament. Following the hearings, which took place in November, MEPs voted by majority in Strasbourg to approve the College as a whole. 

Portfolio: Preparedness and Crisis Management 

Portfolio: Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport

The Netherlands

Wopke Hoekstra

Portfolio: Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth

Slovakia

Portfolio: Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency

Marta Kos

Portfolio: Enlargement

 Portfolio: Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy 

*Incumbent Commissioners

Check out the timeline for the new EU institutional leadership here: EPRS_ATA(2024)762293_EN.pdf (europa.eu)

Check out the webpage for each Commissioner here: College of Commissioners – European Commission

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