The battle for the places that count in Brussels: Germany-Italy 4:1
The division of command posts in the cabinets once again rewards Germany. Also penalised is France, which has only one seat. Fitto's team
3' min read
3' min read
A member state's ability to influence European Commission decisions depends not only on the weight and personality of the commissioner sent to Brussels, but also on the key positions occupied in the 27 cabinets, from the presidency on down. Ursula von der Leyen has set precise guidelines for the composition of the cabinets, which must be a maximum of nine people of five different nationalities, no more than three of the same nationality as the commissioner, and maintaining gender balance. In this game, the positions that count are those of the heads of cabinet and their deputies. When they are really good, they are much more than an alter ego of the commissioners themselves, capable of guiding them through the complexities of the EU institutional machine, negotiating the different dossiers behind the scenes, steering decisions and fighting when necessary to support the commissioner's policies.
Germany beats Italy and France...
That long introduction having been made, let us come to the point. The 2024-2029 commission teams are almost complete, the result of laborious and complex negotiations between the embassies (the permanent representatives), the party structures, the commissioners-designate themselves, various sponsors and, of course, the stakeholders. Germany, (once again) emerged victorious from this game. Germans, in fact, are four heads of cabinet out of 27, including Bjorn Siebert confirmed at the head of Ursula's team.
France and Italy have one each, that of 'their' commissioner, respectively Stéphane Sejourné at Industry and Raffaele Fitto at Cohesion, who are also vice-presidents. It went better for the Netherlands, which got two: that of Dutch Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra (Climate and Clean Growth) and that of Luxembourger Christophe Hansen (Agriculture and Food).
compared to the last parliamentary term, the weight was halved for Italy, which lost one position: in addition to Gentiloni, Stefano Grassi, head of cabinet of the former energy commissioner, the Estonian Kadri Simson, who managed (successfully) the energy crisis from 2022 onwards, was also Italian.
Not all portfolios carry the same weight. The race is on to secure neuralgic positions in the European institutional architecture, in order to ensure that the Member State has an adequate capacity to influence the dossiers that matter.
