By Jesse Wieten
THE HAGUE, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- President-elect of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen spoke with Dutch Prime-Minister Mark Rutte on Tuesday in The Hague, both putting climate high on the agenda, but first a new Commission had to be composed.
When Von der Leyen arrived in The Hague for the meeting she got a "warm" welcome. Outside of the Catshuis, the official residence of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, she was greeted with a burning globe of several meters high and a banner reading "Climate Crisis: Save Forests Now".
In this way activists of environmental organization Greenpeace wanted to urge Von der Leyen to save forests and fight the climate breakdown. It was a clear message to put the climate as priority on the agenda.
Maybe Von der Leyen and the Dutch PM did not need the message.
She intends to make climate a priority and it is also exactly what Rutte aims as Prime Minister of the Netherlands, to have a leading role for the Netherlands in Europe's climate change action.
On July 16, 2019 the European Parliament elected Von der Leyen as the future President of the European Commission. The 60-year-old German Christian Democrat politician will be the first woman to be President of the European Commission when she takes office in November this year.
After and before she won the election Von der Leyen announced that she will focus on an ambitious climate agenda to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.
"A green deal for Europe that includes a biodiversity strategy for 2030 and a new circular economy action plan focusing on sustainable resource use," she said.
Chapter one of her political guidelines for the European Commission from 2019 to 2024 is about this European Green Deal. "The message from Europe's voters, and those too young to vote, is loud and clear: they want real action on climate change and they want Europe to lead the way," she said.
"Becoming the world's first climate-neutral continent is the greatest challenge and opportunity of our times," she added. "It involves taking decisive action now. We will need to invest in innovation and research, redesign our economy and update our industrial policy."
Von der Leyen also committed to working closely with the European Parliament to strengthen democracy and a fair social market economy in Europe.
"We need to do it the European way," Von der Leyen said. "I believe Europe should have a stronger and more united voice in the world. And it needs to act fast."
However, first things first. To get closer to her goals Von der Leyen needs to have Commissioners with the same ideas. Her main activities at the moment are focused on composing this new European Commission. Von der Leyen already stated het intention to form a historic Commission, composed of an equal number of women and men.
"I will ensure full gender equality in my College of Commissioners. If member states do not propose enough female Commissioners, I will not hesitate to ask for new names," she said.
To take office, the list of Commissioners-designate has to be agreed by the European Council and the European Parliament needs to give its consent to the new European Commission for 2019-2024 as a whole. After each candidate is approved the new Commission is set to take office with Von der Leyen on Nov. 1 this year.
Von der Leyen is expected to unveil her Commission team of 26 other Commissioners later this month, one from each of the states composing the European Union, except Germany, which is Von der Leyen's member state, as well as Britain due to its planned withdrawal from the European Union.
The composition is based on candidates suggested by the heads of states or the governments. That's why Von der Leyen had a tour of Europe in the past weeks, speaking to among others, French President Emmanuel Macron, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, PM Pedro Sanchez of Spain, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic of Croatia, PM Viktor Orban of Hungary and PM Giuseppe Conte of Italy.
Jens Flosdorff, spokesperson of the President-elect, told Xinhua that Von der Leyen is not in office yet and the trip around Europe cannot be regarded as an introduction tour.
"There are some visits and informal meetings linked to the process of forming her college," he said. "An official schedule will be provided, when she's in office."
On Tuesday evening at the Catshuis in The Hague it was Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's turn. "This evening I had a pleasant dinner meeting with the President-elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen in The Hague," Rutte said afterwards on Twitter. "We spoke about the upcoming agenda for the new Commission, and especially about climate, the internal market, and the EU's geopolitical role."
As Dutch Labor (PvdA) politician Frans Timmermans, current first Vice-President of the European Commission under Jean-Claude Juncker, lost the battle to become the new President of the European Commission, Rutte now asked Von der Leyen to make Timmermans the climate commissioner in the new European Commission, according to Dutch national broadcaster NOS.
With Timmermans at this post the Dutch would have the perfect tool to fulfil the ambition to lead Europe's action against climate change. The question now is if Von der Leyen has the same thoughts, thoughts she might have shared with Rutte in the Catshuis, but not in public yet.
