EU Commission’s structure leaves Brussels green campaigners dazed and confused

BRUSSELS — Ursula von der Leyen’s European Commission structure is proving a headache for green and equality advocates, who say industry has a smoother path to lobbying the institution.

With many portfolios split among commissioners, it’s increasingly difficult to reach the right person to try to shape legislation, the advocates told POLITICO’s EU Influence newsletter.

Lobbyists of all kinds are also concerned about the top-down nature of the von der Leyen Commission, where power tends to be concentrated in the hands of the president and her close advisers.

The changes at the top of the Commission, introduced when von der Leyen started her second term in December 2024, reflect a broader political shift away from environmental topics — the Green Deal having been a key part of her first term — toward business and defense. The Commission now has its first commissioner dedicated to defense issues, while many European governments have shifted to the political right.

As a result, said Sven Harmeling, head of climate at civil society organization CAN Europe, “sometimes it’s not clear which DGs [directorates-general, or departments] are involved,” which “creates challenges in terms of understanding where some of the discussions are.”

One Brussels-based consultant who represents corporate clients, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said: “I think the structure [problem] is a Green Deal issue” rather than one that affects industry or other areas, adding that in their specialist area of health, “things have not changed that much.”

Asked about Internal Market Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné’s meetings with businesses, a member of his team said bluntly: “The fact that the commissioner in charge of the industry is meeting primarily the industry representatives seems a bit self-explanatory.”

Who you gonna call?

The structure that von der Leyen put in place when she secured a second term atop the Commission has six executive vice presidents, who are meant to coordinate and oversee the work of other commissioners (under EU law, all commissioners are supposed to be equal).

In von der Leyen’s first term it was fairly obvious whom to approach if your focus was climate: Green Deal architect Frans Timmermans and his team. Now, according to Mike Walker, a lobbyist working mainly on climate issues, it’s more ambiguous: Timmermans’ successor, EVP Teresa Ribera, is also responsible for competition policy.

Walker said the “structural ambiguity” of the College of Commissioners makes “targeted advocacy with limited resources a challenge for civil society.”

One example of this was the omnibus simplification proposal, which “basically cut off a lot of the normal consultation procedures,” Walker said.

He added that the consultations “were rushed” and were “often only [conducted] with a very select group of stakeholders” — befitting a political climate in which green policies have been superseded by competitiveness and security.

EU Executive Vice President for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition Teresa Ribera gives an interview in Brussels on Jan. 30, 2026. | Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images

Walker said the problem was likely “aggravated by the clear focus of decision-making on VDL and her team.”

In September 2024, in unveiling her new team, von der Leyen said she was ridding the Commission of “former relatively rigid stovepipes,” making the institution less hierarchical.

She claimed it would promote cooperation between commissioners and their civil servants, and give them an “equal responsibility” to deliver on their priorities. But there was concern that the new structure would allow von der Leyen to divide and conquer. 

“I don’t think that is a bug but a feature in the system of the new college,” German MEP René Repasi said of von der Leyen’s strategy.

It’s a pattern that Greenpeace’s farming lead, Marco Contiero, has noted as well. “Decisions within the Commission happen in a much more vertical way, even compared to von der Leyen I,” he said. “The amount of people involved has shrunk, and I have staff in the cabinet of commissioners, as well as high-level functionaries and directors, not knowing what’s coming.”

The consultant who represents corporate clients agreed, saying: “It seems that a lot of decisions are taken at a higher level.”

“If you want something done it might be easier to set the political direction, or get things overturned or pushed, at a political level versus services,” the consultant continued, referring to a commissioner’s close advisers versus departments in the EU executive.

‘Scaled-down on equality’

The commissioner for preparedness and equality, Hadja Lahbib, has frustrated activists working in human rights, who say her attention is captured more frequently by the other part of her portfolio.

“The Commission has scaled down totally on equality,” said Alejandro Moledo of the European Disability Forum. It’s become a “second-class objective.”  

While Lahbib has come out with plenty of strategies, they haven’t received glowing reviews. Her LGBTQ+ blueprint “clearly falls behind the ambition” of the previous one, according to advocacy group ILGA-Europe. Her anti-racism program was a “missed opportunity” that “recycl[ed] old approaches,” according to anti-racism network ENAR. And her gender equality strategy was full of “empty promises leaving the most marginalized at the margins,” which Mental Health Europe branded “another missed opportunity.” 

An EU official, granted anonymity to speak freely, said while the commissioner has a “broad” portfolio, her commitment is “clear and consistent,” adding: “She is personally dedicated to advancing equality.” 

Lahbib has “consistently engaged with a wide range of stakeholders,” the official said, pointing to an implementation dialogue on Roma inclusion, a youth policy dialogue on disability rights, and a trip to Budapest last year to meet stakeholders and to “demonstrate that the EU stands firmly with” the LGBTQ+ community.

The European Commission did not respond to a request for comment.