It’s Valentine’s Day, giving POLITICO the chance to speculate about an ever-closer union of a different kind.
POLITICO’s EU Influence newsletter asked Marjorie Libourel, a Brussels-based matchmaker who works with clients in the bubble, how she’d pair up some of the top Commission names.
(Note: These are hypothetical. We’re sure none of the commissioners are in the market for love).
Ursula von der Leyen (European Commission president)
A very successful woman, Type A, very career-focused and occasionally isolated.
Libourel would pair her with a “discreet, reliable, solid and grounded” man like Margaret Thatcher’s husband, Denis, or Angela Merkel’s spouse, Joachim Sauer. Reliable men can “balance their stressful public life and provide stability, key elements for strong women to thrive in a stable and sustainable partnership, key elements to their success,” Libourel said.
“I believe strong, successful women and political leaders overall need humble and supportive partners. No political rivals,” she said.
Glenn Micallef (commissioner for intergenerational fairness, youth, culture and sport)
Very sporty, enjoys the outdoors; just a kid at heart, Type B personality.
Libourel said: “I would picture him with a dynamic, no-drama woman who is emotionally steady, enjoys an active lifestyle and can appreciate the small pleasures of life. She is fit, youthful, smiling, active and easygoing.”
“She can work in the EU bubble and enjoy what she does, without being consumed by her career and foreseeing enough quality time outside of it,” she adds.
Maroš Šefčovič (commissioner for trade)
Can build your IKEA furniture, will pick you up from the airport (on time).
“To me, he comes across as a good family man, who is a stable and long-lasting union marriage,” said Libourel. “My intuition tells me he could have met his wife a long time ago, perhaps on the university benches. Boring perhaps, but efficient and stable, just like a well-maintained nuclear plant! (Not Chernobyl though).”
Dubravka Šuica (commissioner for the Mediterranean)
Mediterranean woman with a strong personality.
“Dubravka seems to love life, embodies a nurturing and caring figure who is warm and empathetic,” Libourel said. “I see her with a solid masculine man of similar cultural roots.”
She added: “Together they embody and radiate warmth, and are open to the external world, inspiring people around them.”
Kaja Kallas (high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy)
Doomsday prepper mentality, very Type A, hypervigilant and anxious about the state of the world.
“When I look at Kaja, the words intelligence, cerebral, and overthinker come to me. Perhaps even some anxiety,” Libourel said. “My gut feeling tells me despite her great intellectual capacities, she needs a very emotionally intelligent man able to soothe her potential anxiety and welcome her complexity without judgment, love and tenderness. “
Stéphane Séjourné (commissioner for internal market and services)
Very goal-oriented, ambitious, and focused on success; classic overachiever, highly educated, and discreet about his private life.
“Stéphane comes across as extremely focused, discreet, efficient and even perfectionist. I see him with a partner possessing equal attributes. An ambitious, discreet and intelligent man with a great career perhaps in an area such as finance or law or who is at least less publicly exposed,” she said.
“Together, they work hard, and have a solid long-term partnership where they support each other’s careers and aspirations and keep building their careers, assets and networks.”