When Ursula von der Leyen, the incoming president of the European Commission, first announced her list of proposed commissioners in September, it did not include a British commissioner. She and her commission were scheduled to take office on November 1, and the UK was scheduled to officially leave the EU on October 31, so it didn’t seem necessary to appoint a British commissioner who would never serve. Then, three of her commissioners were rejected, pushing her start date back until December 1, and further complications within the British Parliament caused Brexit to be pushed back until January 31. So, what do they do now?
With only a few weeks until she’s set to take office, von der Leyen has decided that she’s going to require Boris Johnson to present a commissioner on behalf of the UK, despite the fact that they’ll have to step down as soon as Brexit occurs. She was initially concerned that, because Britain was still in the EU, she might not have been able to take office without a British commissioner, but experts have reviewed it and decided that that’s not the case. Further complicating the situation, she has also specifically requested that the UK present female candidates to advance her mission for gender equality, which means Johnson can’t just present the UK’s current commissioner, Sir Julian King.
Boris Johnson, unfortunately, has rejected von der Leyen’s request for a British commissioner twice now. The current Commission, headed by Jean-Claude Juncker, has declared that by doing so, “the UK is in breach of its EU Treaty obligations,” while the British authorities have responded that the UK cannot make international appointments in the time leading up to their December elections. The EU has now launched official legal action against the UK, which could end with the British government forced to face the European Court of Justice and having major fines imposed onto them and their citizens. But, what’s the point? With the UK so adamant to leave, despite so many pushbacks and delays, forcing them to nominate a commissioner at this point just seems pointless. The commissioner would ideally only serve for about two months and then would have to immediately step down, or, if there’s another delay, would just continue to serve until the British inevitably pull out of the EU. Even if they weren’t leaving so soon, they’ve made it clear that they don’t want to participate in politics at the EU level anymore, so it still seems pointless to nominate someone to a position they don’t want and will almost instantly be resigning from. It also seems pointless to force them to nominate a female commissioner, as although the push for gender equality is incredibly important, the commissioner would again be leaving almost instantly. With the commissioner being so short-term, it would seem only logical to just allow the UK’s current (male) commissioner to continue to serve until Brexit, as to not force someone to take on a new job for just two months. The commissioner would also have to go through the same confirmation process in the European Parliament as every other commissioner, so it would be easier to nominate someone who has already been approved before so there would be no risk of the British candidate getting rejected.
On the other side of things, it seems ridiculous at this point that Boris Johnson is still refusing to nominate a commissioner. It was understandable not nominating one initially, for all the reasons outlined above, but now he could be facing massive fines for the British taxpayers, which could just further complicate the leaving process and his position in the upcoming elections. With legal action having already been filed against the UK government, it’s clear that the Commission is serious about having the British nominate a commissioner, so they might as well just nominate someone despite the pointlessness of having to do so. Standing their ground and continuing to refuse would gain them nothing, and would actually cost their citizens a lot of money, so there just seems to be no point in refusing any longer.
Both Ursula von der Leyen and Boris Johnson are engaged in a battle of wills that they just don’t need to be entangled in. A British commissioner at this point is pointless, especially since a lack of one won’t impede von der Leyen’s taking of office, but to be so stubborn as to let your whole country pay massive fines because you won’t nominate a commissioner on principle is also ridiculous. The simplest solution, at least to me, seems to be to allow Sir Julian King to continue to serve as the British Commissioner until the point where the British finally decide to officially exit the European Union, as it seems like a suitable compromise.
Anissa Weisel
