On 17 September 2024, European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen presented to the European Parliament her proposed team of Commissioners-designate together with their portfolios for the next European Commission 2024-2029. The Commissioners-designate each received a so-called Mission Letter from the Commission President-elect building on the ambitions set out in the Political Guidelines for the next mandate of the European Commission presented by Ursula von der Leyen during the European Parliament Plenary session on 18 July 2024.

Twenty-six portfolios have been allocated, one for each EU Member State, in addition to the Presidency. The new College of Commissioners includes six executive vice-presidents and is made up of 11 women and 16 men.

For the full list of Commissioners-designate and their individual “Mission Letters”, please scroll down to the end of this article.

The “Mission”

Each of the above Commissioners-designate has received a mission letter from President von der Leyen. In these mission letters, the President details the ambition and way forward for the next five years for each portfolio. These mission letters are based, among other, on the conclusions of recent reports requested by the present European Commission, such as the Draghi Report on the future of European competitiveness, the report on the Strategic Dialogue on the future of EU Agriculture, and the Letta report on the future of the Single Market, as well as make reference to the pending Niinisto Report on how to enhance Europe's civilian and defence preparedness and readiness. These reports may be relied upon by the (future) Commission in the preparation of new proposals

Below, we highlight the key take-aways in selected areas of interest:

Life Sciences

Among other objectives, the plan is to complete the European Health Union while recognising the connection between people, animals, plants and their shared environment. These measures include:

• Legislative proposals or progress on existing proposals/plans such as the Critical Medicines Act, the European Biotech Act, the ongoing pharmaceuticals reform or the European Beating Cancer Plan;

• Improving existing framework and explore improvements, for instance in the field of medical devices;

• Focus on preventing work on selective topics such as tobacco or anti-microbial resistance.

Agriculture & Food

The numerous farmer protests throughout Europe earlier this year triggered a U-turn on some planned Green deal proposals and a rethink on the future of Agriculture in the EU.  In order to ensure the competitiveness, resilience and sustainability of the agricultural sectors in the EU, the European Commission wishes to build on the recommendations contained in the report on the Strategic Dialogue on the future of EU Agriculture.  The plan is to:

• Prepare a “Vision for Agriculture and Food” during the first 100 days under direct guidance of Commission president Von de Leyen and in coordination with other key-Commissioners concerned;

• Ensure efficient and effective implementation of a common agricultural policy that is “fit for purpose” and that is simpler, targeted and finds the right balance between incentives, investments and regulation;

• Propose actions to prevent and reduce food waste, and support the organic farming sector;

• Strengthen farmers’ position within the food value chain and protect them against unfair trading practices;

• Focus on fair and sufficient incomes, sustainability and food sovereignty;

• Improve sustainability, safety and affordability of food production and consumption across the food chain including organic production and accelerated use of bio-controls;

• Increase controls on imported produce to ensure reciprocity and an international level playing field;

• Focus on the enforcement of food safety standards based on independent scientific advice and in consultation with EU Member States and stakeholders.

Competition

Entrusted with the role of Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, the Competition Commissioner has been tasked with modernizing the EU’s competition policy, with a focus on supporting European businesses in innovation and sustainability. Responsibilities include:  

• Strengthening and speeding up the enforcement of the competition rules, calling on cooperation with competition authorities in EU Member States as well as on global level cooperation;

• Further developing the EU State Aid framework and vigorously enforcing the Foreign Subsidies Regulation;

• Reviewing the Horizontal Merger Control Guidelines to give weight to Europe’s needs for resilience, efficiency and innovation, and to focus on the challenges of killer acquisitions from foreign companies;

• Addressing concerns in digital markets, platform economies and data-driven business models under the Digital Markets Act.

Financial Services

The new European Commission wishes to position itself as a “Investment Commission and aims to unlock the amount of private investment and financing needed for the green, digital and social transition by:

• Developing a European Savings and Investments Union, including banking and capital markets;

• Designing simple and low-cost saving and investment products at EU level;

• Reviewing the existing regulatory framework to ensure that innovative and fast-growing European companies and start-ups can finance their expansion in the EU, while ensuring financial stability;

• Exploring how to scale up sustainable finance, increase the availability of venture and other risk capital and unlock bank financing, including through reviving the use of securitization.

Trade

Among other objectives, the mission is to develop a new foreign economic policy which:

• Focuses on the core objectives of competitiveness, security and sustainability;

• Aims at swiftly modernizing the EU Foreign Direct Investment Regulation in order to better harmonize national FDI screening regimes and to improve the cooperation mechanism between Member States and the Commission, and to tackle risks associated with certain outbound investments;

• Finalise trade agreements under negotiation, notably with countries in Latin America and the Indo-Pacific, and manage and deepen existing partnerships (UK, Switzerland, US, China, etc);

• Finalise the work on the Customs Reform package and lead on its implementation.

European Parliament must approve all Commissioners-designate

In order to be approved and appointed, Commissioners-designate will appear in public hearings at the European Parliament starting early October 2024 and face an intense and necessary period of parliamentary scrutiny. This process of “confirmation hearings” is expected to take several weeks.

Updated Rules of Procedure, effective since July 2024, now provide for a strengthened role for the European Parliament in the establishment of the new College of Commissioners. The process involves the following steps:

• • The Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament will first review the declarations of interests from the Commissioners-designate, a crucial step before the confirmation hearings can take place.

  • Responses from each Commissioner-designate to the written questions from the European Parliament will be published on the Parliament’s website prior to the confirmation hearings.

  • The Conference of Presidents will organize the confirmation hearings based on the recommendation from the Conference of Committee Chairs. Each Commissioner-designate will appear before the relevant committee or committees for a single confirmation hearing, which will last three hours and will be livestreamed. In cases involving large or complex portfolios that span multiple committees, the hearing may extend up to four hours. The European Parliament will assess the Commissioners-designate on their overall competence, experience and suitability, commitment to Europe, personal independence, understanding of their future roles, and communication skills.

  • After the confirmation hearing, the committee coordinators will evaluate each Commissioner-designate and prepare a single evaluation letter. To be approved, a Commissioner-designate must receive support from coordinators representing at least two-thirds of the committee members from a political group. If this majority is not achieved, further information may be requested through additional written questions or a follow-up confirmation hearing lasting 1.5 hours.

  • The evaluation letters will be sent to the Conference of Presidents, which will then close the confirmation hearings and authorize the publication of the evaluation letters. A negative evaluation can prompt candidates to withdraw from the process, as has taken place in the past.

  • Once the confirmation hearings are successfully completed, the President-elect will present the College of Commissioners and their program to the European Parliament’s plenary session, followed by a debate and a vote to approve or reject the proposed College for the European Commission as a whole (including the Commission President and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy), based on a majority of votes cast (by roll call).

  • Once the European Parliament approves the College of Commissioners, the European Council will formally appoint them by qualified majority.

Towards a final verdict

As the confirmation process for the new College of European Commissioners-designate unfolds, the path ahead remains uncertain for some candidates. The European Parliament’s history of rejecting nominees over concerns of competence, political affiliations, or ethical controversies looms large. Several high-profile candidates this year face similar risks, whether due to questionable qualifications, affiliations with right-leaning politics, last-minute changes, or the sheer scale of their portfolios.

With such a diverse array of candidates, each carrying their own set of vulnerabilities, the European Parliament’s hearings are poised to be a make-or-break moment for many. While political leaders have expressed a desire to streamline the process and avoid unnecessary delays, the risk of a single failed nomination snowballing into a larger political showdown remains high. Whether this new team of Commissioners will all make it through the gruelling vetting process remains to be seen, but the Parliament’s history suggests that at least one is likely to fall. The outcome of these hearings will not only shape the composition of the European Commission for the next five years but will also reflect the balance of power between the EU’s political forces.

In theory, the new Commission team would be approved by November 1. In practice this is more  likely to happen around December 2024.

Please find the full list of Commissioners-designate and their mission letters below

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Next steps

This Snapshot is the second in a series of updates focusing on the June 2024 European Elections and what the outcome might entail across various industry sectors with a newly appointed European Commission driving the direction of policy over the next five years.

Full list of Commissioners-designate and their mission letters:

Authored by Grégoire Paquet, Jacqueline Mailly, May Lyn Yuen, Falk Schöning, Lourdes Catrain, Hugo Paemen, Philip van Steenwinkel, Fabien Roy and Kacper Maksymczuk.