It was the last week of July and Michael McGrath was in Brussels, sitting in the office of Didier Reynders, the European Union’s outgoing commissioner for justice.
It had been about a month since the Fianna Fáil politician had stepped down as minister for finance, after being nominated by the Government to be Ireland’s next EU commissioner.
Meeting Reynders in the European Commission’s Berlaymont headquarters, McGrath was interested in gleaning advice about the workings of the EU’s executive branch that proposes laws.
At the time McGrath had no idea he would end up taking over the justice job. Having put forward a senior politician, the Government’s hope was to land a finance-related commission portfolio.
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A few days beforehand Ursula von der Leyen had comfortably won a vote in the European Parliament to confirm her reappointment for a second term as president of the commission.
The German’s first task was to sort out what portfolios to hand to commissioners nominated by each country. Announcing her decision on Tuesday, the most sought-after jobs were handed to France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Latvia, Slovakia and Finland.
McGrath was named commissioner for justice and the rule of law, a mid-ranking portfolio that includes work pulling up troublesome member states, including Hungary, and overseeing things such as the EU’s GDPR data protection rules. The former finance minister “came out of it better than some of us thought he would”, one senior EU official said.
More than half of the EU countries were jostling between each other for the handful of economic commissioner jobs, such as portfolios covering trade, the economy, budget, competition and financial services.
[ Michael McGrath’s new job in Europe shows just how far Ireland’s stock has fallenOpens in new window ]
Privately, von der Leyen was angry with the Government. McGrath’s four Fianna Fáil colleagues in the European Parliament had opposed her getting a second term at the top of the commission.
Then Ireland ignored her request for two names from each country to pick from, with at least one being a woman, to give her a better chance of forming a gender-balanced team of 27. Ireland was one of the first countries to nominate their next commissioner. Under the Coalition agreement it was Fianna Fáil’s turn to pick, and McGrath was announced as the choice in late June.
The Government was aware that von der Leyen would look for two names, even before she wrote to each capital to formally seek their commissioner nominations near the end of July.
Both Taoiseach Simon Harris and Tánaiste Micheál Martin were firm that the Government would not be proposing a second name, stating the choice of who to send rested with each EU country.
Von der Leyen’s office on the 13th floor of the Berlaymont is spacious. There are several big plants dotted around the room, as well as photos of her family, one of her with her horse, and some pictures from her first term.
When the German politician hosted McGrath there for a sit-down interview, she gave no indication about what job she had in mind for him. Word filtered back to Government Buildings and Irish diplomats in Brussels afterwards that she felt the interview went well and McGrath came across as solid.
Harris and Martin continued to make the case for McGrath getting a finance role in a series of calls with the commission president. Fine Gael sits in the same EU political grouping as von der Leyen, the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), a connection Harris sought to lean on.
A lobbying push from some Irish officials in the EU institutions worked to portray McGrath as an “Ireland” candidate, rather than a Fianna Fáil one, a source involved said.
Von der Leyen and Bjoern Seibert, who is the head of her staff, were trying to dole out the prominent commissioner jobs to get a balance of geography, country size and gender. They also had to keep the three main EU-level political groupings happy. These are the EPP; the centrist group Renew, where Fianna Fáil sits; and the centre-left Socialists and Democrats.
They have to understand von der Leyen much better
— A former senior official on Ireland's EU knowledge deficit
Early on some things became clear. Spain was nailed down for a senior position covering the EU’s green transition, France was getting a portfolio covering industrial policy and Poland was lined up to be in charge of the EU budget.
As names began to be put down beside several of the important portfolios with more certainty, Irish officials in Brussels were becoming increasingly worried about what might be left.
It was late in the first week of September before the Government got some sense of what portfolio Ireland might be getting. It is understood von der Leyen mentioned the justice portfolio in a call with Harris, without explicitly stating McGrath was in the frame.
“I don’t think Ireland’s lobbying had a lot to do with it. Ireland’s lobbying capital would be pretty low with von der Leyen right now,” says one commission source.
Instead it was largely down to the fact Renew was targeting the justice and rule of law portfolio for one of their own, among other jobs. McGrath was one of five commissioner nominees from the centrist Renew umbrella.
“We were pushing for rule of law, competitiveness and industry, and defence,” says one senior Renew source.
The approach of the Government at that point appeared to be to “bank” the justice job, but keep the pressure on, one senior EU source said. There was a relief in Dublin that Ireland had avoided ending up with a dud portfolio, such as commissioner for health, equality or international development.
While justice was now down beside McGrath’s name on von der Leyen’s list, things were still in flux. Many portfolios were being tweaked, with some elements carved out or added in from elsewhere.
[ The Irish Times view on the new EU Commission: a reasonable result for IrelandOpens in new window ]
During the final days the push from Government focused on trying to dress up the portfolio, which resulted in von der Leyen adding in a “few sweeteners” to beef up the brief a bit, says several sources.
There is a recognition among both politicians in Dublin and senior current and former EU officials that Ireland made several missteps early on, before making back some ground in recent weeks.
A drop-off in the number of Irish working in influential positions within the commission seems to have contributed to a growing knowledge gap in how Dublin views the EU machine.
“They have to understand von der Leyen much better,” says one former senior official.
The initial announcement of McGrath as Ireland’s nominee was handled poorly, without any effort to get von der Leyen onside beforehand.
“People didn’t really think through how this would look in Brussels,” says another source.
There is a belief Ireland’s prospects of ever landing one of the big jobs this time, such as commissioner for the economy, were slim.
Five years ago Phil Hogan was handed the powerful trade commissioner role, but was forced to resign in the political heat of the Golfgate controversy during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We’re still rolling that stone back up the hill,” says one former senior Irish official in Brussels.
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