Commission-companion-full

COMMISSIONER
Marianne Thyssen
Employment, social affairs, skills
and labour mobility
Country
Born
Belgium
Sint-Gillis-Waas,
24 July 1956
Political affiliation EPP
Twitter
@mariannethyssen
As the European commissioner for
employment, social affairs, skills and
labour mobility, Marianne Thyssen is
charged with getting more European
citizens into work and increasing career
opportunities. In some respects, she is
eminently qualified: she has worked hard to
get where she is now and has blazed a trail
for women in Belgian public life. Yet her
career also demonstrates the importance of
chance. For her, opportunities were created
by a mix of accident and luck, seasoned
with a well­developed sense of duty.
It was former president of the European
Council (2009­14), Herman Van Rompuy,
who persuaded Thyssen to embark on a
political career and to put herself forward
as a candidate for the European Parliament
for the 1989 elections.
Thyssen, who was born in eastern
Flanders, came from outside the world of
politics: her family owned a bakery and she
was director of the research and advisory
section of Unizo, which represents small
businesses and the self­employed. She
harboured no ambition to go into frontline
politics and her colleagues had a hard time
persuading her to make the leap. At the
time, she says, she had “the best job in the
world”.
Thyssen did not get elected in the 1989
contest, but became an MEP two years later
when she took the place of Karel Pinxten,
who had moved to the Belgian senate.
What was unforeseeable then was that she
would remain an MEP for the next 23 years,
leaving only when she was nominated for
the European Commission.
Belgium’s choice of a European
commissioner became caught up in the
struggle to form a national government – a
general election had been held on 25 May,
the same day as the elections to the
European Parliament. To the surprise of
some, her CD&V party chose to secure the
post of commissioner for Thyssen instead of
taking the prime ministerial job.
What made her nomination easier was
that in the Parliament she enjoyed support
that crosses party boundaries. She has none
of the big­ego abrasiveness that was a
feature of her predecessors in the
Commission – Karel De Gucht and Louis
50
Michel. Whether in Flemish or European
politics, party colleagues and opponents
alike are – without exception – positive
about her.
While an MEP, she also exercised a second
mandate in local politics, which the Belgian
political system permits in theory and the
proximity of the European Parliament
permits in practice. She was a member of
the municipal council of Oud Heverlee, just
to the south of Leuven, but relinquished
some of her local duties in the last years of
her time as an MEP – in part to allow her to
work on important dossiers in the
Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs
committee.
Additionally, in 2008 senior figures in the
CD&V had asked Thyssen to take over the
position of chairing the party. She had never
made a secret of her preference for
European rather than national politics,
seeing Europe as her “natural
environment,” yet she took up the national
responsibility as grateful recognition that
“the party has allowed me to stay in Europe
for such a long time”.
Party leadership was no easy task
following many political crises and falling
support for her party. Thyssen, who stepped
down from the post in 2010, characterises
CV
2008-10 Leader of the CD&V (Flemish
Christian Democrats)
2004-09 First vice-president of the
European People’s Party group in the
European Parliament
2001-08 First Alderman, Oud-Heverlee
1999-2014 Head of the Belgian
delegation of the European People’s Party
group in the European Parliament
1999-2014 Member of the European
Parliament
1995-2008 Municipal councillor,
Oud-Heverlee
1991 Acting secretary-general, Unizo
1988-91 Director of research
department, Unizo (Belgian SME
organisation)
1979-80 Research assistant, faculty of
law, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
1979 Master’s degree in law, Katholieke
Universiteit Leuven
her time as party chair as “the most
stressful period” of her life, though she said
she would do it again if asked to.
Although many in Belgian politics were
disappointed that Thyssen was assigned
only the employment and social affairs
portfolio, her own reaction was that “she
could not have wished for a better post”.
Hers is a serious dossier and her staff can
be sure that she will work hard to master
its technicalities.
Cabinet
Head of cabinet
Stefaan Hermans
Deputy head of cabinet
Ruth Paserman
Cabinet members
Baudouin Baudru
Inge Bernaerts
Vasiliki Kokkori
Julie Anne Fionda
Luk Vanmaercke
Raf de Backer
Jonathan Stabenow
Thyssen’s cabinet is led by Stefaan
Hermans, a Belgian and a former head of
unit in the department for research and
innovation. Her deputy chef de cabinet, is
Ruth Paserman, an Italian with an
extensive track record in the
Commission, which she joined in 1996.
Paserman joined a commissioner’s
cabinet for the first time in 2009 when
she worked for Antonio Tajani in the
dpeartment for industry and
entrepreneurship. She left in 2011 to
become head of unit for industry and
entreprise. Among Thyssen’s seven other
cabinet members are four Belgians,
including her current communications
adviser Luk Vanmaercke. Her personal
assistant, Raf De Backer, has worked with
her for the past fifteen years.