EU Leadership Nominations Signal Of Women's Empowerment, Importance Of France, Germany

The European Union has nominated two female conservatives from Germany and France for leadership positions within the bloc's institutions this week in a move that reflects the growing role of the two countries within the union and sends a strong message of women's empowerment

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th July, 2019) The European Union has nominated two female conservatives from Germany and France for leadership positions within the bloc's institutions this week in a move that reflects the growing role of the two countries within the union and sends a strong message of women's empowerment.

On Tuesday, the European Union picked German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen and International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde from France as chiefs of the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB), respectively. Both nominations have yet to be backed by the European Parliament and, in Lagarde's case, the ECB's Governing Council.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel was nominated to become the new president of the European Council, and Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell to become High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Both have to be confirmed by EU authorities.

Following the nominations, outgoing European Council President Donald Tusk expressed content with the four candidates, calling it "a perfect gender balance."

"After all, Europe is a woman," he noted, presumably in reference to the fact that the word "Europe" in his native Polish is a feminine noun. He expressed hope that the nominations of von der Leyen and Lagarde would be confirmed.

Tusk, in turn, said he hoped the nomination of two women for top EU jobs would "inspire" girls and women across the continent to fight for their beliefs and passions.

The gender of the two nominees has indeed played a significant role in the decision-making process, Loukas Tsoukalis, a European studies professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, told Sputnik.

"For the European Union to nominate a woman, even two, for, perhaps, two most important posts in the European Union is more than historic. It is the first time in the history, so in this respect this extremely important ... It is sort of symbolic gesture - Europe chooses women at the top. That is a message that Europeans want to send across," Tsoukalis said.

Yet, gender seems to not be the only criteria applied in nominations for the bloc's top positions. The candidacies of von der Leyen and Lagarde also reflect the weight of France and Germany within the bloc, Wyn Grant, professor of international politics at Warwick University, told Sputnik.

"It was necessary to find a compromise which gave important posts to both France and Germany," Grant said.

The nominations were praised, in particular, by French President Emmanuel Macron as "fruit of a deep Franco-German entente."

Further dwelling on the reasons behind the nominations, Tsoukalis noted that Lagarde was an "obvious choice" considering her background as the IMF chief, while "a European profile" of von der Leyen, who grew up in Brussels with a father who worked at the European Commission, could have also factored in the European Council's decision on her candidacy. Yet, he warned against specific reasoning, pointing to the complexity of the selection process.

"In a long bargaining involving heads of states or governments of many countries, where the ball finally falls, in which hole is a very difficult and complicated process. You should not always look for rationality," the expert explained.

Considering that the both nominees share similar views with the previous heads of the European Commission, one should not expect "a radical departure" from the previously pursued policies of both the commission and the ECB, according to Tsoukalis.

Grant, on the other hand, noted that von der Leyen was likely to take a more integrationist approach in her capacity as commission chief, if endorsed.

"Von der Leyen is a federalist who would like to see movement towards a United States of Europe which goes down well with Macron. She will shape policy in the direction of more integration and will take an uncompromising stance on Brexit," Grant said.

By nominating von der Leyen, the EU leaders abandoned the so-called Spitzenkandidaten system that provides for picking the next European Commission president among EU parties' leading candidates.

Their decision therefore does not reflect the results of the European elections, which suggested that centre-right European People's Party (EPP) leader Manfred Weber would most likely succeeded Juncker. This fact has led to major disappointment among members of the parliament, but experts nevertheless believe that the European Parliament is not likely to reject von der Leyen's nomination.

"I think that [rejection of von der Leyen's nomination] is unlikely as the whole set of deals would then be in danger of falling apart," Grant explained.

VON DER LEYEN - MERKEL'S ALLY, NO STRANGER TO BRUSSELS

If approved by the European Parliament, von der Leyen, a 60-year German politician, will be stepping into a position previously occupied only by men, and not for the first time. Since 2013 von der Leyen has been serving as Germany's first female defense minister.

Even though von der Leyen grew up near the European Quarter in Brussels with father Ernst Albrecht, a high-ranking European civil servant, she did not immediately choose to become a politician.

After moving back to Germany, she studied economics at German and UK universities but then switched to medicine and obtained a medical license and degree. In 1986, she married Heiko von der Leyen, also a medic, and over next 12 years gave birth to seven children.

Von der Leyen joined Germany's Christian Democratic Union now led by Chancellor Angela Merkel, in 1990 but only started to get actively involved in politics in the late 1990s. In 2005, she joined Merkel's first cabinet as minister of family affairs and youth. In 2009, she took the position of minister of labor and social affairs. After the 2013 general elections, von der Leyen became defense minister and the only minister to stay in Merkel's third consecutive cabinet.

Her actions as defense minister have not gone without harsh criticism in Germany.

"Von der #Leyen is our weakest minister. That seems to be enough to become the Commission President," Martin Schulz, ex-European Parliament President and former leader of Germany's Social Democratic Party, twitted after her nomination on Tuesday.

Von der Leyen, if backed by the European Parliament, would also become the first German president of the European Union's main executive body since 1967.

LAGARDE -TRAILBLAZER IN LAW AND FINANCE

Similarly to von der Leyen, Christine Lagarde, 63 and mother of two, is also pioneer. She was the first woman to serve as France's finance minister from 2007-2011 and then as IMF managing director from 2011 until the present day.

Born in Paris, Lagarde spent her childhood in Le Havre. After graduating a French high school, she received an American Field Service scholarship and attended the Holton-Arms School in the US state of Maryland for one year, during which she also participated in an internship as a congressman's assistant.

In 1974, she returned to France and entered the Paris Nanterre University, where she majored in labor and social law, as well as English. Lagarde later obtained a master's degree at Sciences Po Aix. She then joined the Baker & McKenzie law firm, where she became a partner after six years and then emerged as the first female executive committee member in the company's history.

In 2005, Lagarde became the minister for foreign trade but after a 2007 reshuffle was appointed the minister of finance. In 2011, she became the first female managing director of the International Monetary Fund and was re-elected for a second five-year term.

However, following her nomination for ECB chair Lagarde temporarily relinquished her responsibilities within the fund. If her nomination is approved, she would become the first woman to head it.

Lagarde was named the third most powerful woman in the world in Forbes' Top 100 in 2018, which described her as "stabilizing force advocating for reducing global trade conflicts."