The European Commission’s mandate has ended on 31 October. However, the EC Treaty does not include provisions for extending the European Commission’s mandate. According to Johannes Laitenberger, European Commission’s spokesman, the Commission’s mandate has been extended “based on the principle of institutional continuity.” The Commission has been working in a “caretaker capacity.” Moreover, Johannes Laitenberger said that it would be for the “caretaker Commission” “(…) to judge whether it is necessary for a legislative proposal to be made during this period.” Obviously, there are doubts over the legality of the decisions that the Commission is taking during this period. The Commission has no longer decision-making powers as its mandate has expired. Solely, José Manuel Barroso has been reappointed.
The uncertainty over the size of the new Commission has not prevented Barroso to announce sometime ago the creation of new portfolios for his new team, including a commissioner for climate change, for security and internal affairs, justice and fundamental rights. According to the EuropeanVoice, José Manuel Barroso said “Most governments, if not all governments in Europe, have a minister for justice and a minister for interior or security and internal affairs, so that's one of the reasons I decided to have instead of one commissioner in charge of all these matters to separate [them] in the new Commission.”
It is unclear for how long the Commission mandate will be extended for. However, it is now certain that the new Commission will be appointed under the Lisbon Treaty. The negotiations over the allocation of the Commission’s portfolios are directly related to the appointment of the EU new posts. José Manuel Barroso could not announce his new team until the appointment of the High Representative for Foreign and Security policy who will also be a Commission vice president. On 19 November, the EU leaders appointed Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy to be President of the European Council and Catherine Ashton to be the High Representative for foreign policy. Now, the President of the European Commission can start putting together his new team.
Not all Member States have named yet their commissioners, but once Barroso has the full list of designated Commissioners he will then start handing out portfolios. An intense round of negotiations on the configuration of the next Commission is expected this week. Obviously, member states are seeking the most prestigious portfolios such as internal market, competition, trade, and economic and monetary affairs. The post of European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, including financial services is the one with most bids.
The European Commissioner posts were also part of the EU summit horse trading. One could wonder why France and Germany have not sought one of the Lisbon Treaty’s posts. It has been reported in several newspapers that Sarkozy has supported the appointment of Ms Ashton fort the post of EU foreign affairs minister in exchange of France getting the internal market and financial services portfolio. One thing is for sure, the UK is now out of the race for the heavyweight economic portfolios of the next European Commission. In fact, Michel Barnier is set to be the next Internal Market Commissioner. France is well known for its protectionist tendencies and will be in charge of the internal market. No one could think of a worse deal for the UK, specially taking into account the current negotiations for the reform of the European supervisory financial system. Germany is also seeking a heavyweight portfolio. Günther Oettinger might get the economic and financial affairs portfolio or competition. José Manuel Barroso is planning to announce the new Commission’s composition and the distribution of portfolios by the end of this month.
The hearings in the European Parliament’s committees for the nominated commissioners will take place during the week of 11 to 14 January. The plenary’s vote on the entire Commission is planned for the week of 18 to 21 January in Strasbourg. Consequently, the new Commission would not be up and running until February 2010. It is important to recall that the European Parliament may reject a commissioner nominated by the Member States by threatening to reject the college as a whole. In 2004, Rocco Buttiglione and Ingrida Udre had to be replaced and László Kovács had to be assigned a different portfolio. Hence, if there are problems with any of the candidates, the plenary vote would be postponed and the candidates would have to be replaced.
