Von der Leyen’s last push for more women

What’s driving the day in Brussels.
By Nicholas Vinocur
with ZOYA SHEFTALOVICH
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VDL LEANS ON COUNTRIES TO FIND MORE WOMEN: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is conducting a last-ditch campaign to try to find suitable candidates to fill the top ranks of the EU executive and avoid ending up with a group of commissioners that looks like a 1950s corporate boardroom. 
Picking on the runts: Her strategy, according to two diplomats who spoke to Playbook — entice countries, especially smaller ones, to put forward alternate names by dangling juicier portfolios if they can come up with female candidates.
Try again, Malta: That’s the approach von der Leyen has reportedly taken to Malta, which faces pressure from the top EU executive to replace its current male nominee, Glenn Micallef, with a suitable female replacement, according to a report in The Times of Malta. Von der Leyen may also be turning the screws on at least two other smaller EU countries, said the EU diplomats. 
Double Dalli? One of the diplomats said that Helena Dalli, Malta’s current commissioner in charge of equality, was “pushing to stay on” for a second term. But the same diplomat said that Malta’s prime minister, Robert Abela, was unlikely to change his mind on Micallef as doing so “would undermine his authority.”
Mystery nations: Von der Leyen’s quest for women comes just a few days before the August 30 deadline she has set for EU countries to propose commissioners. In addition to the three countries whose nominees she hopes to change, there are five countries that have yet to publicly submit a name for the Commission role — and could potentially be prevailed upon to send women.
Leverage: While the choice of who to send to Brussels lies entirely in member states’ hands, von der Leyen can leverage the fact that the choice of their portfolio is entirely in her hands. She can dangle more substantive portfolios — security-related and economic roles are in especially high demand — or more seniority in the Commission’s pecking order. Hence an extremely complex set of negotiations, expected to drag on well after the August 30 deadline.
Number game: The Commission president is also surely aware that getting a country to switch out their male proposed candidate in favor of a female one is more valuable, numbers-wise, than getting all new female proposals from the countries (ahem, Belgium, Bulgaria) that have yet to put forward any names. 
Thoughts and prayers: For EU countries watching the struggle from the sidelines, a sentiment often expressed is that they would also like a gender-balanced Commission… but how that happens is entirely von der Leyen’s problem, absent any language calling for parity in EU treaties.
Sausage-fest: “As member states we expect VdL to strive for gender parity in her Commission. No-one’s arguing against that. At the same time, member states believe that it is up to js to propose the Commissioner we prefer,” said a third EU diplomat. “Unfortunately those two desires don’t seem to align this time around.”
Her problem: “Now it’s up to VdL to figure out how to solve that puzzle. She will need to strong-arm, persuade or buy off member states in order to come up with more women. But at what cost?
Impossible is nothing: Theoretically, the goal of a gender-balanced Commission is still within reach. In practice, getting there looks like a long shot — opening von der Leyen to criticism not just that she failed to achieve a gender-balanced Commission, but that she invited member countries to defy her authority. Indeed, von der Leyen had asked most countries to submit the names of both male and female potential candidates — a request that many didn’t comply with.
Power game: “In the short term, it [von der Leyen’s potential failure to achieve gender parity] signals VdL’s inability to impose her will on national capitals at the beginning of a new mandate,” said Alberto Alemanno, professor of EU Law at HEC business school. “In the medium term, it outs her college at (unnecessary) risk by having an unprecedented number of candidate Commissioners being rejected” when they face hearings in the European Parliament.
Bottom line: Von der Leyen has succeeded in installing herself at the head of what’s arguably Europe’s most powerful institution. Two other women, former Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas and Malta’s Roberta Metsola, are slated to take two out of the three other most important jobs, High Representative and President of the European Parliament. But those achievements may well be overshadowed if von der Leyen ends up presiding over a lopsidedly male Commission.
EUROPE’S NEWEST ONE PARTY STATE? Late last year, the Commission handed Georgia coveted candidate status, paving its way to join the bloc. Now, nine months on, the country’s application has been suspended and it’s weighing up whether to join the likes of Russia, Belarus and North Korea by banning the entire parliamentary opposition, Gabriel Gavin reports.
Georgia on his mind: Speaking to my colleague Gabriel Gavin, the EU’s foreign affairs spokesman, Peter Stano, hit out at the bombshell plans put forward by the increasingly authoritarian ruling Georgian Dream party. “The current course of action jeopardizes Georgia’s EU path, de facto leading to a halt of the accession process,” he said. Brussels, he added, is “ready to react in an appropriate manner. All options are on the table and we would act accordingly if these statements are enacted.”
Going East: The warning comes after Prime minister Irakli Kobakhidze vowed to outlaw the entire parliamentary opposition if his own party wins nationwide elections in October. Critics say the candidate country, which has received billions in economic support from the EU and U.S., has pivoted towards closer ties with Moscow since the start of the war in Ukraine.
NATO-UKRAINE COUNCIL MEET: Defense Minister Rustem Umerov will join remotely the NATO-Ukraine Council today (Wednesday). The meeting, to be chaired by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, will focus on “battlefield situation and priority capability needs,” NATO Spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah said, adding that the meeting “comes after recent waves of heavy Russian strikes against Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure,” Stuart Lau writes in to report.
MATT TABONE NAMED HEAD OF METSOLA’S OFFICE: Matthew Tabone has been appointed to head the European Parliament President’s Office by Roberta Metsola. A long-time aide, Tabone previously managed Metsola’s MEP office and led transparency reforms. He succeeds Leticia Zuleta De Reales Ansaldo, now Director of National Parliaments.
POLITICO’S TIM ROSS ANNOUNCES NEW BOOK: Veteran UK political journalist Tim Ross, who happens to be our deputy head of news, is coming out with a new book about the UK general election in 2024, written with co-author Rachel Wearmoth, their publisher Biteback has announced. Landslide: The inside story of the 2024 elections, which will be published in November, uses “new interviews and candid private accounts from key players to take the reader behind the scenes of one of the strangest but most consequential elections in recent history,” the publisher wrote in a press release. Looking forward to reading it, Tim and Rachel!Me, my MEP and the EP: For the first time, all new and re-recruited Accredited Parliamentary Assistants must complete mandatory online training. According to an email seen by Playbook, the program includes three modules focused on harassment prevention, transparency and ethics in Parliament, and finance ethics to enhance professional standards. In addition to these, APAs can take two optional in-person courses to learn how the EP works and how to practice emotional intelligence. Those who undergo this training are awarded a “certificate of participation” awarded by the “head of learning and development unit.” Woohoo!
— Parliament President Roberta Metsola is traveling to Warsaw, Poland; will meet bilaterally with Prime Minister Donald Tusk; attends the conference “Campus – the Future of Poland.”
— Executive Vice President Vĕra Jourová in Olsztyn, Poland; speaks at the conference “Campus – the Future of Poland” … meets with Adam Bodnar, Poland’s minister of justice and Adam Szłapka, Poland’s minister for European affairs… meets with Barbara Nowacka, minister of education and Rafał Trzaskowski, mayor of Warsaw.
— Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz receives the U.K.’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer.— France’s President Emmanuel Macron holds a working lunch with Germany’s president Frank-Walter Steinmeier at 1 p.m..
WEATHER: High of 28C, sunny.
GHOST HOTEL RISES FROM THE ASHES: Winston Churchill, Salvador Dalí, Andy Warhol all stayed here. The Corinthia Grand Hotel Astoria, once a crumbling relic, reopens in November, reported The Brussels Times. Prices start at as little as €700.
BIRTHDAYS: Former MEPs Ivan Vilibor Sinčić, Raffaele Fitto, Patricia Lalonde, Cécile Kyenge and Enrique Guerrero Salom; Thomas Huddleston of the Ethiopian Community Development Council.
THANKS TO: .. Playbook editor Alex Spence, Playbook reporter Šejla Ahmatović and producer tkhtanks.
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