Barroso dévoile sa nouvelle équipe [FR]

"This early announcement is most welcome as it gives the nominee commissioners themselves and the members of the European Parliament the time necessary to properly prepare the hearings, scheduled to begin in early January," said European People's Party group chair Joseph Daul MEP.

"I welcome in particular the appointment of [Denmark's] Connie Hedegaard to the climate change portfolio. This appointment can only increase the chances of success at the Copenhagen climate change conference," Daul said.

"The other new portfolios [Home Affairs; Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship] and reconfigurations will also give the Commission a greater ability to address the concerns of all Europeans," he added.

"It is now the work of the committees of the European Parliament to examine the ability of the next commissioners to deliver progress in the areas that have been allocated to them [...] We will do everything possible to allow a vote on the new College of Commissioners to take place on 26 January next, as scheduled," the French MEP concluded.

"It gives me satisfaction to note that we will have more vice-presidencies than any other political family," said Martin Schulz, leader of the Socialists & Democrats  (S&D) group in the European Parliament. "This will ensure a proper balance at the highest level of Commission decision-making," he added.

"S&D politicians will have three of the seven vice-presidencies in the new Commission. In addition to EU foreign policy, entrusted to Baroness Catherine Ashton, the S&D family will manage social policy, competition and relations with EU ministers and the European Parliament. The Czech commissioner will deal with EU enlargement and relations with neighbouring countries and the Greek commissioner will run maritime and fisheries policy," the group said in a statement.

The parliamentary hearings "will be serious tests of the nominees and their ambitions for Europe, and we will not pre-judge their outcome," Schulz concluded.

Annemie Neyts, president of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform  (ELDR)  party,  warmly welcomed the portfolios assigned to liberals. "Eight of the commissioners represent European Liberal Democrat values, which will ensure a liberal footprint on the agenda for change set out by [European] Commission President [José Manuel] Barroso in the political guidelines for the new Commission for the coming five years," she said.

Liberal commissioners will be in charge of important portfolios such as economic and monetary affairs, trade and home affairs, and two of the liberal commissioners are also assigned the role of vice-president. 

"Mr Barroso has heard the liberal message, namely that the liberal members of the Commission should obtain portfolios which allow them to play a visibly significant role in the future Commission," she added.

Guy Verhofstadt, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE)  group leader in the European Parliament, said: "I am satisfied that President Barroso is putting his trust in the liberal commissioners in so many important dossiers which will be vital in the months and ahead to pull Europe out of recession and improve prospects in the job market."

"The significant presence of Liberals in the new Commission will enable us to play a major role in Europe under the new Treaty of Lisbon," he added.

Treating journalists to a seafood lunch in a Brussels restaurant, Verhofstadt said he was satisfied with the nomination of eight commissioners from his political family in the Barroso II team: Kallas, Kroes, Geoghegan-Quinn, De Gucht, Malmstrom, Potocnik, Rehn and Vassiliou.

The number is the same as in the previous Commission, but in a context where liberals were present in fewer European governments, Verhofstadt remarked. He also noted that among them, there are two Commission vice-presidents (Siim Kallas and Neelie Kroes), compared to one (Kallas) in the Barroso I team. 

The ALDE leader expressed particular satisfaction with the economic and monetary affairs portfolio, attributed to Olli Rehn. He explained that after his group had realised that the top jobs of EU president and High Representative for Foreign Affairs were being divided between the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) and the socialists, the liberals concentrated on obtaining the top economic portfolio.

"For us, what counted more was the commissioner portfolios, and how these portfolios would help us to get a more pro-European agenda," Verhofstadt said.

Verhofstadt stressed that Rehn's attributes include a very important dimension: putting in place the post-Lisbon strategy, dubbed 'EU 2020' (EurActiv 19/11/09). He said the strategy would be adopted at the spring European Council, and that the European Commission draft paper now being discussed between member states and the EU institutions was written by Rehn.

Verhofstadt hailed the securing of the trade portfolio, attributed to former Belgian Foreign Minister Karel de Gucht, a fellow member of the Flemish liberal party, VLD.

The ALDE leader indicated that his group will support the Barroso II team during the vote in Parliament next January, as his requests had been heeded in four out of five policy areas. He described liberal representation in the college of commissioners as satisfactory.

Asked by EurActiv which of the five policies had not been heeded by Barroso, Verhofstdat said he would need to check his correspondence with the Commission president, adding that beyond the details, the overall balance was positive.

Verhofstadt also stated his intention to change his way of working with the liberal commissioners. Until now, he said, they only met once a month in a Brussels restaurant, which he said was "nice, but you don't make much policy with thatW. Meetings with the commissioners will now be more streamlined and more regular, he said.

"I am delighted that the liberals remained true to their commitment to gender balance in the selection of commissioners," he further stressed. Indeed, half of the liberal commissioners will be female and represent almost half of the total number of female commissioners.

The Bulgarian Socialist MEPs in the European Parliament issued a statement regretting that the portfolio received by Rumiana Jeleva (a member of the GERB party, EPP-affiliated), was "not a priority one" for the EU. Jeleva was awarded the new International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response portfolio.

The MEPs appear to place the blame at the feet of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov's government for proposing a candidate with insufficient qualifications. 

"In the new Commission there will be a number of portfolios dealing with important policies indeed […] We congratulate the governments of the other new EU members, who proved able to present credible and competent candidates," the statement reads.