“Von der Leyen’s Gender-balanced Team: A New Way of Operating in the College of Commissioners?

Ursula von der Leyen is the first woman president of the European Commission. She presides over the first gender-balanced College of Commissioners in the EU’s history. Have these facts affected the ways that the College of Commissioners operates? What does this tell us about the President’s political leadership style? This paper examines the role and impact of the first female Commission president and her gender-equal College on the processes of deliberation in College meetings. Research in psychology, communications, management studies, and economics suggests that meetings are gendered events potentially affecting meeting dynamics as well as meeting outcome. In terms of dynamics, the literature suggests that meetings led by women and meetings that feature gender balance may be more collective and collegial than meetings led by men and that are male-dominated. Empirically, the paper uses College of Commissioners’ meeting agendas and minutes from the Prodi, Barroso I and II, Juncker, and von der Leyen (December 2019–June 2022) Commissions. It analyzes both structural features of College meetings and speech acts within those meetings. The paper highlights that von der Leyen’s presidency has been characterized by a strengthening of collectiveness and a partial bolstering of collegiality.