European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has set new staffing rules for incoming commissioners as they form their first teams.
The rules aim to ensure diversity in terms of nationality, gender and seniority in the offices of all 27 commissioners – one for each EU country – including her own, her office said in a document.
From 2019, every office must have an equal number of men and women.
The revised rules were closely supervised by Björn Seibert, von der Leyen’s chief of staff. There were rumors in Brussels that the rules of the cabinet were to be radically reshuffled – this did not happen – apart from a few minor changes.
The document, seen by POLITICO and dated to October, was long-awaited in Brussels, where governments have been struggling for months to place their own officials in influential roles.
Ursula von der Leyen’s office
Von der Leyen will continue to employ 12 senior members of the council, EU foreign affairs chief Kaia Callas and the five next-highest commissioners, known as executive vice-presidents, will have nine (one less than in 2019) and the remaining 20 commissioners will have six senior council members, as before.
For the first time, all heads of offices must also undergo a security screening process carried out by an EU country.
Different nationalities
As in 2019, there must be at least five different nationalities in the offices of von der Leyen, Callas and the five, and three different nationalities in the offices of the main commissioners.
There is also a new rule stating that no more than two members of the office can come from the same country as the commissioner. Von der Leyen would like to avoid commissioners hiring only staff from their own countries.
Commissioners rely on offices to push their agenda in Brussels. Commissioners’ offices can have enormous influence in shaping and overseeing the political ambitions of their respective commissioners. This is the first update to the terms of employment since von der Leyen took over as head of the EU’s executive arm in 2019.
The future commissioners have spent weeks awaiting these rules as they plan their five-year term in Brussels, which will begin pending approval by the European Parliament after grueling hearings set for November.
SOURCE: ot.gr
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