Von der Leyen unveils the structure of the new European Commission

The European Justice Forum (EJF) welcomes the nomination of Commissioner Didier Reynders and Vice-President Jourová responsible for legal affairs under the new European Commission. EJF is looking forward to an engaging dialogue with the Commissioners, Directorate Generals and Commission’s officials.

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, unveiled on 10 September 2019 her team and the structure of the next College of Commissioners, which presents a gender-balanced composition for the first time of its history.

Belgian Minister Didier Reynders has been nominated as Commissioner for Justice. He will be supported by the Directorate General for Justice.

As Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders will be responsible for a number of issues, divided between upholding the rule of law and improving justice and consumer protection. For the latter, he will notably be responsible for:

• Leading the work on consumer protection, notably for cross-border and online transactions;
• Facilitating and improving judicial cooperation between Member States;
• Using new digital technologies to improve the efficiency and functioning of the European justice systems;
• Contributing to the legislation on a coordinated approach on the human and ethical implications of artificial intelligence.

Didier Reynders will work towards reaching these objectives under the guidance of the Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová. Věra Jourová, who was previously Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality under the Juncker European Commission (2014-2019), will now be in charge of strengthening and fostering European values of transparency, democracy and inclusiveness.

EJF stands ready to support the new Commission’s political leadership in achieving a successful mandate ensuring that “our Union is a place of equality, fairness and social justice”, as per the ambition of Commission President von der Leyen.