Von der Leyen writes to EU leaders asking for Commission nominees

BRUSSELS — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has sent a letter to European Union countries asking them to nominate candidates for commissioner posts.
“The Commission has sent this morning the letters to member states from the president asking member states to give names of candidates for the posts of commissioners,” Arianna Podesta, deputy chief spokesperson of the Commission, said Tuesday.
Leaders have until the end of August to send their pick (or picks) to work in the Berlaymont, the Commission’s HQ. Von der Leyen will start interviewing the candidates in mid-August.
Each country gets one commissioner. Von der Leyen counts as Germany’s choice and Kaja Kallas, backed by EU leaders to be the next foreign policy chief, will be the commissioner from Estonia (the foreign policy chief is appointed by the European Council but is a vice-president of the Commission). Von der Leyen is asking each country to nominate a man and a woman, except when the incumbent commissioner is staying on. 
Von der Leyen was the first to set up a gender-balanced European Commission in 2019 and wants to repeat that this time around.
Some EU countries have already formally announced their name or said that their current commissioner is staying one. So far, none have publicly put forward two names, although in some cases a name from the other gender is discussed behind closed doors before a formal nomination is made.
After von der Leyen presents her new College of Commissioners, it’s up to the European Parliament to grill the new commissioners in hearings that are set to take place at the end of September and in October.