By officially appointing former Finance Minister Maria Luis Albuquerque to the European Commission on Wednesday, Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro gave Ursula von der Leyen some breathing space. The president of the European executive, reappointed for a second term in July, thus has one more woman in her new college of 26 personalities, while the member states have so far appointed overwhelmingly men.
Last month, Ursula von der Leyen had taken care to ask the capitals to give her two names (one man and one woman) to fill their commissioner seat – with an exception for countries wishing to reappoint their outgoing commissioner (six in total, with five men including Thierry Breton for France). But no member state complied.
