The ‘who’s who’ of the new European legislature: here are the new EU top appointees

Brussels – One confirmation and two novelties for the new European term. Ursula von der Leyen (EPP – Popular) at the head of the European Commission, Antonio Costa (PES – Socialists), and Kaja Kallas (Renew – Liberals) for the Presidency of the European Council and High Representative, respectively. The summit of heads of state and government of EU member states produced the political agreement for the renewal of the new heads of the EU. Eunews reviews the nominees for the various roles, also known as ‘top jobs’.

• Ursula von der Leyen (European Commission)

Ursula von der Leyen, now 65, with seven children, was nominated to lead the European Commission in 2019 after the French president,
Emmanuel Macron, scrapped the ‘spitzenkandidat‘ system, the candidate nominated by European political parties for the EU executive. The EPP had nominated Manfred Weber, the subject of vetoes paving the way for von der Leyen. For many, she was a weak name because she was little known and less experienced than others. Until then, the roles as Minister for Family (2005-2009), Labor (2009-2013), and Defense (2013-2019). She stumbled in the process of appointing her team. In negotiating with governments on the names for commissioners, Romania and Hungary produced personalities that Parliament rejected. A mishap that forced the Commission to delay taking office, and for which von der Leyen took personal and objective responsibility, having personally led the negotiations with member states. 

Her ‘trademark’ is the European Green Deal, the broad agenda of sustainable transformation of the economic-productive model. But her tenure is marked by two major crises, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian war in Ukraine with the resulting energy crisis. Difficult situations that she managed to juggle, not without criticism. Joint purchases of vaccines at the time of the pandemic and a control room in matters that until then had been exclusively a national competence, laying the foundations for a Health Union. And it is also she who proposes the suspension of the Stability Pact. In the face of Russian operations in Ukraine, she managed to close 14 unprecedented sanctions packages.

• Kaja Kallas (High Representative).
  

A staunch Europeanist and Atlanticist, Kaja Kallas is the first Liberal to serve as EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, having written a page of national political history by becoming, in 2021, the first woman to serve as Prime Minister. Estonian, 47, is the daughter of Siim, who was EU Commissioner for Transport in the second Barroso Commission after serving as head of government. She followed in her father’s footsteps, founding the Estonian Reform Party (RE) in 1994, of which Kaja became leader in 2018. A post she has never left to this day. 

She got her law degree in 1999, later specializing in European law. Then, management training at the Estonian Business School before jumping into politics. First elected to the national parliament, from 2014 to 2018, she sat in the Committee on Budgets and Industry of the European Parliament. An experience that also sees her serving as Vice President of the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee. The Russian war in Ukraine in 2022 revives Kallas’ Europeanism and Atlanticism, becoming one of the loudest voices in calling for and reiterating full and unconditional support for Kyiv. First, she urges partners to provide defense weapons, then fighter planes. She can change her political agenda on the run, canceling the Nordstream2 gas pipeline project, which until then was regarded as geopolitically strategic. For his openly anti-Russian positions, she ends up on the Kremlin’s blacklist and on February 13 of this year, she on the wanted list. This makes Kallas the first head of government to be placed on the register by the Russian authorities, thus bolstering her image.

• Antonio Costa (President of the European Council)

Socialist, 62, a great passion for Benfica and an even greater one for politics. Member of Parliament, MEP, mayor, minister, and Prime Minister: Antonio Costa is a longtime politician who, in his various capacities, has navigated the European Union far and wide. His career has made him a frequent visitor to the EU Councils in its different formats. Minister of Justice (1999-2002), Minister of Interior (2005-2007), and then Prime Minister (2014-2024). A stint in the European Parliament (2004-2005), of which he was Vice-President. A convinced Europeanist, he witnessed the great enlargement of 2004.

 He was not in government; he was mayor of Lisbon when his country asked for a bailout program from the EFSF bailout fund (2011) when the euro crisis reached the Iberian Peninsula. But then, as head of government, he is called upon to not-so-easy management of the COVID-19 crisis. During the summer of 2017, he called on the EU and its civil defense service to manage the fire emergency, in effect helping give a concrete demonstration of what the European Union means. He resigned at the end of 2023 after allegations of bribery hit some of his ministers and even him (but, apparently, it was a namesake). His experience led him to enjoy the political esteem of colleagues and opponents alike.