‘Middle fingers’ from EU capitals. Von der Leyen’s last-minute struggles to put together her team.

BRUSSELS — Ursula von der Leyen’s self-assigned deadline is fast approaching — and she’s still scrambling to put together her top team.  

On Wednesday, von der Leyen is slated to announce which of her 26 commissioner nominees (one from each member country) is assigned which job, after she meets with the leaders of the different political factions in the European Parliament.

But von der Leyen has been focusing too much on gender balance without having the necessary tools to achieve that goal, said one EU diplomat, adding that the hole she is digging for herself is becoming “deeper and deeper.”

The puzzle she’s been grappling with was already complicated, as von der Leyen has to take into account geographical balance, political balance and gender balance. Last-minute changes to the nominees (changes of her own doing) — and finding the area of oversight for new candidates without undermining the overall balance — make it even harder. 

But missing the Wednesday deadline would be seen as an embarrassment, five European officials and diplomats, all granted anonymity to speak freely, told POLITICO, especially after the difficult haggling that’s taken place to avoid a male-dominated team.

Von der Leyen had asked European capitals to send both a male and a female candidate for her team of 26 commissioners (countries who let their outgoing commissioner stay on got an exception to this rule). Bulgaria was the only country to follow that demand, which led to von der Leyen putting pressure on at least five smaller EU countries to replace the male candidates they’d put forward with female replacements. In turn, she offered more consequential areas of influence in exchange for sending a woman to Brussels. 

“She asked each European leader for two candidates. Instead, she got middle fingers,” said one of the European officials who was granted anonymity. 

But in recent days, she convinced Slovenia and Romania to switch out male nominees in the process. Last week, Romania nominated European Parliament lawmaker Roxana Mînzatu as its next European commissioner, after originally putting forward a man for the role.

On Monday, Slovenia put forward Marta Kos, a former ambassador and a former vice president of Prime Minister Robert Golob’s liberal Freedom Party after its male candidate, Tomaž Vesel, dropped out of the process Friday. 

The addition of Kos means it’s now 10 women out of 26 nominees, a win for von der Leyen, some pointed to. 

“At least she’s in double digits now,” said one EU official from von der Leyen’s European People’s Party. 

“That changes the perception a bit. If the European Parliament wants more women, they can always take down another man in the hearings.” 

Those last-minute changes also meant extra time pressure, with even future commissioners being left in the dark about what they’ll be doing for the next five years. 

Von der Leyen herself has defended the gender equality push. “I have throughout my whole political life been fighting for women having access to decision-making positions and leading positions,” she said at a press conference last Wednesday. 

“And my experience is that if you don’t ask for it, you don’t get it. It does not come naturally.”

All nominees still have to get the approval of the European Parliament in October. The next European Commission is now expected to start on December 1. 

Eddy Wax contributed to this report.