Von der Leyen’s new Commission: Male and slightly less stale

Ursula von der Leyen unveiled her new team of European commissioners on Tuesday after months of backdoor negotiations, name changes and last-minute social media drama.
The Commission president’s squad is nearly gender-balanced. With 11 women, von der Leyen’s team of commissioner-hopefuls does just slightly worse than the college in 2019, which had 12.
The prospective Commission is also slightly younger, with the average age dropping from 56 to 52 years old — still firmly in Gen-X territory, with just three millennials making the cut.
Von der Leyen surrounded herself with a mix of newcomers and Commission veterans. Among the latter is Slovak Maroš Šefčovič, who has been a member of the European Commission since October 2009 and would be returning for a record fifth term.
Of course, a lot might change in the coming months. The European Parliament still has to grill and approve the future commissioners — and some nominees might be in for a rough time.
But until then, here are the figures and charts that describe von der Leyen’s (potential) new European Commission.