European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on September 17 announced the new five-year makeup of the EU's executive arm, saying its "core priorities...are built around prosperity, security, democracy" against a backdrop of competitiveness.
She recently said the so-called "college" of the commission would reflect an emphasis on collective security through the introduction of a "full-fledged defense commissioner" as the bloc grapples with fallout from the ongoing war in Ukraine and other perceived threats.
To that end, she chose conservative former two-term Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius as commissioner for defense and space.
But the inclusion of one of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's allies from the hard-right Brothers of Italy party among the expanded list of six vice presidents for von der Leyen's second term also signaled an effort to more broadly distribute influence and respond to accusations that the 65-year-old German had consolidated too much power in her first five years.
She said the Meloni ally, Raffaele Fitto, would be executive vice president for cohesion and reforms, adding, "We will draw on his extensive experience to help modernize and strengthen our cohesion, investment, and growth policies."
In the announcement of her picks, von der Leyen also touted the inclusion of 11 women, saying, "that is 40 percent" of the commission, after she had pushed the other 26 EU members who each nominate a potential commissioner to increase gender balance among the nominees.
One returnee, the controversial commissioner for enlargement from Hungary, Oliver Varhely, was handed the health and animal-welfare post.
Irishman Michael McGrath was placed in charge of democracy, justice, and the rule of law, a portfolio that could put him at the fore of efforts to rein in disputes over perceived democratic backsliding among member states like Hungary.
Magnus Brunner, who has been Austria's finance minister, was given the thorny task of leading the internal affairs and migration portfolio amid conspicuous debate over the bloc's borders and immigration policies.
One day before the planned announcement, France's commissioner for the EU's internal market, Thierry Breton, abruptly resigned and asked his country to nominate someone else in an effort to encourage von der Leyen to give "an allegedly more influential portfolio for France."
Von der Leyen placed French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne in one of the six vice-presidential seats, in charge of prosperity and industrial strategy.
Von der Leyen is in charge of selecting portfolios among each of the 26 candidates.
Von der Leyen has set out goals for the commission that include rethinking the foundations of security and further boosting Ukraine's defense in the face of Russia's 2 1/2-year-old full-scale invasion.
Some of the other urgent challenges currently facing the bloc are perceived threats to transatlantic relations, divisions over Israel's ongoing war with U.S.- and EU-designated terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and tensions over the bloc's agricultural, industrial, and environmental goals, especially in light of the European Green Deal adopted in 2019.
Von der Leyen has also laid out priorities like the stiffening of EU borders and a merit-based approach to long-stalled EU enlargement.
The top European Commission post is one of three key institutional presidencies, along with the leadership of the European Council, that defines the general political direction and priorities of the bloc and the European Parliament.