A LETTER TO member states’ Governments from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has requested they propose two names, a man and a woman, for their European Commissioner role.

Earlier Tánaiste Micheál Martin told The Journal that he was not aware of the letter yet, but the Government would be nominating former finance minister Michael McGrath only for the position.

After her re-election as Commission President last week, von der Leyen announced that she would be seeking that member states nominated a man and a woman for the Commissioner role, as she did in 2019.

She said her reason for the request was that she wanted to create an equal gender balance in her College of Commissioners. There is an exception of countries who are re-nominating their incumbent Commissioners.

However, the Tánaiste is against the idea and believes it infringes on the member states’ rights under the EU treaties to propose candidates for the positions.

“We will respond in due course to that. The jurisdiction is within the Government’s realm, in terms of the appointment of commissioners to be the country’s nominee,” Martin told The Journal.

The decision not to send a female candidate has previously been supported by Taoiseach Simon Harris.  “On this occasion, we are just sending the name of Michael McGrath,” said Harris last week.

“That’s not to be in any way disrespectful to the view of the President von der Leyen – it’s for two reasons. One, the treaties do allow member states to decide their Commissioner.

“Secondly, we’ve just asked our finance minister to not be the finance minister, he has stepped down from cabinet and he’s now preparing very intensively – it’s important to provide him with that certainty,” he added.

Asked during a press conference today, the European Commission said that they would not be discuss the legal basis of the request but said that the request of the Commission President was clear, two names.

A European Commission spokesperson said it could not comment on potential consequences for member states who do not send both a male and female name.

“She has made a request. The request is very clear, it’s two names – a man and a woman – unless it’s an outgoing Commissioner that is being confirmed. [We] will not speculate further on what will happen further in process or other hypothetical scenarios.”

The first von der Leyen Commission had the highest number of female Commissioners in the college, 12, but that was still less than half of the make up.

In its recent nominations, the EU leaders have selected two women, von der Leyen and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, to be the top-EU diplomats. It will be the first time that both roles are held by women at the same time.

Member states have until 30 August to propose and nominate candidate for the role. As of this morning, just nine countries have confirmed their nominations – excluding Germany where von der Leyen is from and Estonia.