Reappointed as head of the Commission on Thursday, Ursula von der Leyen is not the only woman in the upper echelons of the European Union, whose governing body has become more feminized. Overview of the personalities, four women and one man, already or soon in key positions in the Europe of Twenty-Seven.
The first woman to occupy the presidency of the European Commission, the 65-year-old German obtained, on Thursday, the confidence of the majority of MEPs for five additional years at the head of the European Executive. Adept at precise communication, Angela Merkel’s former Defense Minister was able to assert herself during a first term shaken by turbulence, from Covid to the war in Ukraine, and to embody EU policy, even if it means tensing up. “VDL” also forged the image of a strong leader during “sofagate”, by protesting against the behavior deemed sexist by the Turkish President and the President of the European Council, placing her in the background on a sofa during a visit to Turkey.
The Estonian Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, who resigned on Monday, must in turn wait for the approval of the European Parliament to officially take the reins of European diplomacy. The vote is expected to take place in the fall. At 47, this professional lawyer was appointed by the Member States to succeed the Spaniard Josep Borrell, himself having taken over from two women, the Italian Federica Mogherini and the British Catherine Ashton. Nicknamed the “Iron Lady” in Tallinn, the daughter of former European Commissioner Siim Kallas is a determined opponent of the Kremlin. Under his leadership, the Estonian government removed war monuments dating from the Soviet era from public spaces. A firmness which earned him to be placed by Moscow in February on its wanted list.
Roberta Metsola, patron of Parliament
Also very active in supporting Ukraine, the Maltese conservative Roberta Metsola, 45, largely won a second two-and-a-half-year term as president of the European Parliament on Tuesday in Strasbourg. Taken to this role at the start of 2022, she was then the youngest to take the helm of the assembly. She is the third woman to gain access, after the French Simone Veil (1979-1982) and Nicole Fontaine (1999-2002).
Under its first mandate, shaken by the Qatargate scandal surrounding suspicions of corruption among elected officials, the European Parliament voted on the environmental legislation of the Green Deal, unprecedented regulations imposed on digital giants and the EU Migration Pact. Faithful to the anti-abortion position of her Maltese nationalist party, Ms. Metsola nevertheless pledged upon her accession to the presidency to defend the official positions of the institution and to “go further to guarantee and defend the rights of women » and counter violence against women. Priorities that she reiterated again on Tuesday.
Seven months after resigning from his post as Prime Minister, the Portuguese socialist Antonio Costa bounces back in Brussels, where he was elected at the end of June president of the European Council, the body which defines the political orientations and priorities of the EU. This pragmatic and skillful tactician has proven himself capable of leading difficult negotiations. As in 2020, when he helped convince Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban not to block the post-Covid European recovery plan, crucial for Portugal. The sense of compromise will be a precious asset for this 63-year-old jurist, of Indian origins, at the head of the circle of heads of state and government of the Twenty-Seven. He will succeed the Belgian Charles Michel on December 1st.
Christine Lagarde, guarantor of the euro
The first woman to take over as president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, 68, arrived in Frankfurt in 2019, having already been the first female French Minister of the Economy and the first general director of the International Monetary Fund. Praised for her composure in economic storms, she stands out for her favorable position on the inclusion of the fight against climate change in monetary policy. An idea which is not yet unanimous among central bankers, which she will work alongside until 2027, if she completes her eight-year mandate at the ECB.
At mid-term, Ms. Lagarde’s action, in an inflationary context, was judged mediocre by a majority of the institution’s staff, unlike her predecessors, according to an internal survey by the Ipso union published in January.
This article is originally published on elwatan-dz.com
