Juncker fields his team

Incoming European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, announced the distribution of 28 portfolios within the new European Commission, ending months of negotiation, jostling and rumour. 

Juncker said that he has, "decided to make some changes and shake things up a bit," as he unveiled his team on Wednesday (10 September). 

The most evident feature of the new shake-up is the addition of a top crust of Commissioners without portfolios. These seven Vice-Presidents will mainly filter policy coming up from below, explained Juncker. 

Briefs, in brief

The nominee for the Trade portfolio is Cecilia Malmstrom of Sweden, replacing Karel De Gucht of Belgium in leading tricky talks on the far-reaching Transatlantic Trade and Innovation Partnership (TTIP) agreement with the US. This is a prized but testing brief with widespread opposition to a trade deal amongst Europeans. 

Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger, who was interested in snapping up Trade, will take over Neelie Kroes’ Digital post instead. Alenka Bratušek, the former prime minister of Slovenia, takes on the newly created Energy Union brief. 

Poland's Elzbieta Bienkowska, currently Minister for Infrastructure and Development at home, will be in charge of internal market, industry, entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprises. A Romanian Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Corina Cretu, will get regional development. 

Despite fears for its future, the Education brief remains intact, and will be led by Hungary’s Tibor Navracsics. Estonia’s Andrus Ansip, who hails from the country that gave us Skype, will take on the newly created Digital Single Market brief. Miguel Arias Cañete, of Spain, who was once touted for the Research brief, will take Energy and Climate Change. 

The new Commission will include nine women, the minimum deemed necessary to win a vote of confidence in the European parliament next month. In terms of gender balance, the new line-up is “not really an advance” on the old Commission, Juncker admitted. “But it’s at least not a step back,” he said. 

“I'm a modest chap,” said Juncker, former prime minister of Luxembourg, on his own role at the head of the new team. “I'm no dictator; I will be a coordinator, not the great helmsman.”

New pecking order

A new feature of the Commission structure is the introduction of six Vice-President roles without portfolios and with a remit for oversight, strategy and veto over policy. A seventh Vice-President will act as Juncker’s right-hand man. 

“Vice-Presidents will lead project teams, steering and coordinating the work of a number of Commissioners. This will ensure a dynamic interaction of all Members of the College, breaking down silos and moving away from static structures,” the Commission explained in a statement.

One of the Vice-Presidents, Finland’s Jyrki Katainen, will help oversee the main economic portfolios in the new Commission and will marshal investment to boost growth. 

Juncker was quick to dismiss any suggestion he has created a new tier of super-commissioners. “Vice-presidents will be coordinators; team captains, not supervisors – don’t over-simplify this,” he said. “Don’t view [the structure] as first class and second class – that’s not it at all.”

Mandates 

EU-watchers will be interested in seeing if Juncker’s new "flexible teams" structure will lead to clashes or confusions over who is responsible for what. In order to make it all a little more predictable, each new Commissioner has received a personal letter from Juncker with an outline of roles and expectations. 

Ansip has been given six months to conclude negotiations on the reform of Europe’s data protection rules. More generally, he is expected to promote the modernising of eGovernment services around Europe. Oettinger’s to-do list includes “contributing to activities that turn digital research into successful European innovation stories.”

In her role at the helm of the Energy Union portfolio, Bratušek is expected to tap the job potential of “Green Growth”; promote the goal of diversifying sources and, generally, coordinate Europe in reaching its 2020 energy goals. Juncker asks Cañete to keep an eye on promoting the Emissions Trading System and developing Europe’s renewable energy base. 

Bending to relentless pressure over the highly contentious TTIP negotiations with the US, Juncker expressly asks for “enhanced transparency” in his letter to Malmstrom. For regional policy, Cretu is asked to address the well-travelled criticism of low-absorption rates by poor regions of structural funding. 

Navracsics’ DG Education will subsume the Joint Research Centre – an unexpected development. The European Institute of Innovation and Technology will stay under his brief, says the letter, confounding the hope from some quarters that it would transfer to DG Research’s command.

Bienkowska has been asked to raise the profile and importance of industry in the economy, “from less than 16 per cent today towards an aspirational 20 per cent of EU GDP by 2020.”

Juncker’s filter 

Using language that might have been aimed at appeasing eurosceptic factions, Juncker talked about restraining the Commission’s reach in some areas. “We’ll be big hitters when we need to be and we’ll hold back on minor issues,” he said. “The Commission needs to know when it’s time and appropriate to step up to the plate and when it’s appropriate to step back.”

As a means of “fight[ing] against excessive bureaucracy”, the Netherland’s Frans Timmermans’ First Vice-President role will include a veto right over any proposal coming from any of the Commission departments. “The First Vice-President can stop any initiative, including legislative initiative, coming from a Commissioner’s team,” Juncker said.

The nominees will now appear before the European Parliament's legislative committees in the coming weeks before MEPs take the final vote on whether to accept the whole package.