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DUBIOUS CONNECTIONS ⟩ European Commissioner Nominee Illegally Traveled to Crimea in 2021

Photo: IMAGO/Philip Reynaers/IMAGO/Photo News
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The future potential European Commissioner for Crisis Management illegally traveled to Crimea in 2021. Funds were provided by a foundation linked to Putin’s daughter.

Four women and two men—Ursula von der Leyen's selection of candidates for the next Vice Presidents of the European Commission was a clear political statement. It reflected her dissatisfaction with member states largely ignoring her request to propose one male and one female candidate from which she could choose.

However, the behavior of these countries is understandable. Such a system could only function in an ideal world where all 26 member states—those without the Commission presidency—put forward two perfect candidates and trusted Brussels to decide which of their best sons or daughters to select. In this utopia, 13 men and 13 women would be chosen purely based on their compatibility with the Commission president. There’s probably a reality show out there based on this very concept.

Since enforcing these rules while respecting member states’ sovereignty was impossible, it quickly became apparent that the only country that had complied with the request—Bulgaria—would see its female candidate advance because the other countries had already put forward too many men.

Ursula von der Leyen (pictured in city of Narva, Estonia) issued strict instructions to member states on ensuring gender equality among commissioner candidates, but the states failed to comply.
Ursula von der Leyen (pictured in city of Narva, Estonia) issued strict instructions to member states on ensuring gender equality among commissioner candidates, but the states failed to comply. Photo: Ilja Smirnov

Von der Leyen’s counteraction, given the delicate levers she could pull, was predictable. Elevating mostly women to the Vice President positions was her response. Meanwhile, a small print category emerged: the "highly competent but title-less man." Von der Leyen marked this by stating that such individuals would report "directly to her."

Maroš Šefčovič, Valdis Dombrovskis, and Piotr Serafin—were designated as these title-less experts. Šefčovič and Dombrovskis were already Vice Presidents in the outgoing Commission, while Serafin, the lone representative from a major country - Poland - without a Vice President title, had served as Chief of Staff to former European Council President Donald Tusk.

Now, it’s up to the European Parliament to scrutinize these choices. Within the tangle of party politics and national interests, gender seems to play a minor role. Nonetheless, let us hope certain values still hold firm despite the inevitable backroom deals.

Take, for example, Hadja Lahbib, the Belgian nominee for Crisis Management Commissioner. At first glance, she seems an appealing choice—a woman, the daughter of Berbers from Algeria, without a headscarf, representing a secular yet inclusive vision for Europe’s growing Muslim communities. However, a closer examination raises concerns about whether Ursula von der Leyen compromises too much in pursuit of a better gender balance.

In the summer of 2021—seven years after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and the beginning of the war in eastern Ukraine, and just six months before Moscow’s full-scale invasion—Lahbib traveled to Crimea. The trip was funded by a foundation linked to Vladimir Putin’s daughter, and she entered the peninsula illegally through Russia.

Lahbib defended herself by stating that she had done so as a journalist in her previous career. But as a seasoned journalist, 51 at the time of the visit, she should have known better. Even if she represented a more carefree side of the media, Belgium’s ruling coalition might have reconsidered whether someone with so little grasp of international law and geopolitics should be appointed as foreign minister the following year.

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