The next von der Leyen Commission, in the words of its president, will have three priorities: “prosperity, security and democracy, all in a context of competitiveness serving the two transitions, digital and sustainable. These are cross-cutting issues that will concern all the commissioners.” As a result, the competences of the commissioners will be less fixed “so that the commission’s action is more fluid and better coordinated,” as requested by .

 (CSV/EPP) has been given the agriculture and food portfolio. His task will be to implement the conclusions of the strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture. “On the basis of this strategic dialogue, he will draw up a vision for agriculture and food in the first 100 days of the commission’s term of office,” said Ursula von der Leyen.

Why agriculture? The president of the European Commission highlighted Hansen’s skills in this area, pointing out in passing that the appointment of a commissioner is a national responsibility. “I can discuss the matter with the governments, but in the end it is they who decide.”

Prime minister (CSV) on Tuesday 17 September welcomed the choice of Hansen for the post of European commissioner for agriculture, which he called “one of the most important portfolios in the commission since the Common Agricultural Policy represents about a third of the European Union budget. Agriculture is facing considerable challenges. We must redefine the future of agriculture which is essential for our sovereignty. It’s an enormous challenge and we welcome the choice that has been made. It is excellent news for Luxembourg,” he commented at the end of the morning.

“It is the choice of the president of the commission, but it was our choice and our wish from the beginning to have an important portfolio for Luxembourg to avoid people saying that the big countries receive the important portfolios, the small ones the rest. I believe that it is a balanced commission. For the agriculture and food portfolio, I believe that Mr Hansen is an excellent candidate, who also has his origins--his father and his brother were farmers, and he lives this in his heart. In the European Parliament too, he has often spoken about these subjects; he knows the agricultural environment so I believe that his profile is ideal for this portfolio, and I believe that he will have a very good oral hearing in the European Parliament,” added Luxembourg’s prime minister.

Six vice-presidencies

Ursula von der Leyen (Germany) will be surrounded by six executive vice-presidents.

Teresa Ribera Rodríguez (Spain) will be in charge of the clean, fair and competitive transition;

Henna Virkkunen (Finland) will be in charge of technological sovereignty, security and democracy;

Stéphane Séjourné (France) will be responsible for prosperity and industrial strategy;

Kaja Kallas (Estonia), high representative of the union for foreign affairs, will be in charge of foreign and security policy;

Roxana Mînzatu (Romania) will be in charge of people, skills and training; and

Raffaele Fitto (Italy) will be in charge of cohesion and reform.

The responsibilities of the other twenty commissioners, in the order in which they are presented by von der Leyen, are distributed as follows:

Maros Sefčovič (Slovakia) will be in charge of Trade, Economic Security, Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency;

Valdis Dombrovskis (Latvia) will be in charge of the economy, productivity and simplification. Simplification, one of the cornerstones of the Draghi report;

Dubravka Suica (Croatia) will be the first commissioner responsible for the Mediterranean;

Olivér Várhelyi (Hungary) will be in charge of animal health and welfare;

Wopke Hoekstra (Netherlands) will be in charge of climate and clean growth;

Andrius Kubilius (Lithuania) will be in charge of defence and space issues;

Marta Kos (Slovenia), subject to ratification by the Slovenian parliament, will be responsible for enlargement;

Josef Síkela (Czech Republic) will be responsible for international partnerships;

Costas Kadis (Cyprus) will be responsible for fisheries and oceans;

Maria Luís Albuquerque (Portugal) will be responsible for financial services and the savings and investment union;

Hadja Lahbib (Belgium) will be in charge of resilience, crisis management and equality;

Magnus Brunner (Austria) will be in charge of home affairs and migration;

Jessika Roswall (Sweden) will be in charge of the environment, water management and the competitive circular economy;

Piotr Serafin (Poland) will be in charge of the budget, the fight against fraud and public administration;

Dan Jørgensen (Denmark) will be the first housing commissioner. He will also be responsible for energy;

Ekatarina Zaharieva (Bulgaria) will be responsible for startups, research and innovation;

Michael McGrath (Ireland) will be in charge of democracy, justice and the rule of law;

Apostolos Tzitzikostas (Greece) will be in charge of sustainable transport and tourism;

Christophe Hansen (Luxembourg) will be responsible for agriculture and food;

Glenn Micallef (Malta) will be in charge of the intergenerational fairness, youth, culture and sport.

Final adjustments

Since the first list of commissioners was drawn up on 1 September, there have been three changes. The first--a political change--is the resignation of Thierry Breton after learning that Ursula von der Leyen had asked Emmanuel Macron for his head. Stéphane Séjourné was appointed in his place.

Two changes were made in the name of gender balance, the first criticism levelled at the von der Leyen list. Tomaž Vesel had to give up his seat, at von der Leyen’s request, to Marta Kos, Slovenia’s former ambassador to Germany and Switzerland. Victor Negrescu (Romania, S&D), MEP and member of the Romanian Social Democratic Party, also gave up his seat to a woman, Roxana Mînzatu, also a Romanian MEP and member of the S&D group.

On the other hand, the gender parity criterion was not respected in the appointment of Julian Popov, former Bulgarian minister for the environment and water, in preference to the former foreign affairs minister, Ekaterina Zaharieva. Bulgaria was the only country to respond favourably to von der Leyen’s wish for countries to put forward two candidates, one man and one woman.

In the end, the von der Leyen 2 commission comprises sixteen men and eleven women. “That's 40%, compared with 22% on 1 September,” insists the president, adding that four of the six executive vice-presidents are women. Women hold two of the EU’s “top jobs”--the posts of president of the commission and high representative of the union for foreign affairs. The other two jobs are those of the president of the council--held by the Portuguese António Costa--and the president of the European Parliament, a post held by Malta’s Roberta Metsola.

This puts the criticism of the lack of gender diversity in EU governance into perspective.

In terms of political balance, the von der Leyen 2 commission is dominated by the EPP, which has fourteen representatives. The Socialists in the S&D group and the Liberals in Renew have five commissioners each, while the populist ECR group has one representative. Three commissioners claim to be independents.

It is now up to the European Parliament to validate the commissioners, whose hearings before the relevant parliamentary committees are due to begin at the end of the month.

This article was originally published in .

Article updated on 18 September at 9:45 to correct António Costa’s nationality and the spelling of Hadja Lahbib’s name.