The EU leaders have been discussing the potential candidates for the posts of permanent President of the European Council and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in the last few months. Although there were no formal discussions on the new top positions at the EU summit in October, the EU leaders discussed them in the corridors. In fact, they have reached an informal agreement that the EU president post should go to a politician from the centre-right whereas the post of EU Foreign Minister should go to someone from the centre-left. Moreover, Sarkozy and Merkel have agreed to support the same candidate for the EU president post.

Unsurprisingly, in an undemocratic and unaccountable EU, the member states’ citizens have no say in the matter. Under the Lisbon Treaty, the EU president as well as the High Representative is appointed by the European Council by qualified majority voting. The EU leaders have been saying that the Lisbon Treaty brings more democracy and Europe close to the citizens but the all process just shows the opposite. There was no public consultation. Citizens or even national parliaments were left out of the discussion.

The EU leaders were in a hurry to appoint the two EU top positions as the treaty enters into force on 1 December they wanted the posts that it creates filled by that date. Moreover, the European Commission has been operating in “caretaker mode” since 1 November and 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. Hence, to accelerate the process, the Swedish Presidency has convened an extraordinary informal summit to appoint the permanent president of the European Council, the High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy and a Secretary-General of the Council Secretariat.

In the run-up to the extraordinary EU summit, Swedish Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, has intensified his phone consultations with the EU leaders. The negotiations were done in total secrecy. The final deal was reached at the EU leaders' behind closed doors dinner on 19 November. They unanimously agreed to appoint the Belgian Prime Minister, Herman Van Rompuy as President of the European Council, Catherine Ashton, Trade Commissioner, as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Pierre de Boissieu as the Secretary-General of the Council. The Swedish EU Presidency obtained unanimous consensus without a vote.

Fredrik Reinfeldt said "This is the new leadership team of Europe" they will be “the voice and face of Europe throughout the world." In fact, they will represent 500 million citizens but they are hardly known. They have no democratic legitimacy. The appointment of the EU President and the EU foreign affairs minister is the product of compromises between the Member States. The horse trading for the EU new positions has taken into account the nationality, geography, the size of the country, political affiliation, gender, everything but merit.

As above mentioned, it was decided that the first full-time president of the European Council should come from a small country and from the centre-right. Hence, the appointment of Van Rompuy was not a surprise, specially taking into account he had the backing of Merkel and Sarkozy. On the other hand, Ms Catherine Ashton´s appointment was, definitely, a surprise. In the last few weeks we heard the names of David Miliband, Massimo D'Alema, Adrian Severin but no one could imagine that Catherine Ashton was a candidate. Her name came up completely out of the blue.

Although it was obvious that Tony Blair had no support, Gordon Brown took too long to drop Tony Blair’s candidature for President of the European Council and he has not done his homework for a plan b. In a last minute deal, Gordon Brown accepts the offer and decides that Britain should go for the post of High Representative. The EU leaders from the centre left decided at a meeting few hours before the summit to support Catherine Ashton for the post of high representative. However, she was the last in Gordon Bronw´s list but there was not enough support for Lord Mandelson or Geoff Hoon. In the end of the day, Gordon Brown has had limited influence in the choice of the two top positions. Moreover, Gordon Brown by accepting the post of High representative for Ms Ashton, who will also be a Vice president of the Commission, has taken the UK out of the race for the heavyweight economic portfolios in the next European Commission.

It was reported in several newspapers that Sarkozy has supported the appointment of Ms Ashton in exchange of France getting the internal market and financial services portfolio. William Hague has demanded an explanation from the Government on what has been agreed at the EU summit but no concrete answer was given. At a House of Commons Debate, on 23 November, William Hague said “We wish Lady Ashton well in her appointment, but it would be a very serious matter if the price of adopting the Government's third choice as High Representative meant that policy on the internal market and on financial services, in particular, was taken in a direction that was not in keeping with the interests of Britain.” David Miliband denied the accusations and said that the European Commission’s portfolios are a responsibility of the President of the Commission.

Yes, José Manuel Barroso is in charge of assigning the Commission’s portfolios among the Member States’ nominees and he held intense negotiations with the EU leaders. Obviously, member states were seeking the most prestigious portfolios such as internal market, competition, trade, and economic and monetary affairs. One could say that the European Commissioner more important portfolios were also part of the EU summit horse trading.

On 27 November, José Manuel Barroso presented the new Commission announcing the portfolios of each nominee. He said "I am confident I have assigned the right jobs to the right people, (…) we have achieved a good mix of skills, experience and gender.” Moreover, he said "In such a process there is always going to be dialogue, requests and suggestions. I spoke to many of the commissioners designate and prime ministers but the decision is mine, I take full responsibility for the decision." However, José Manuel Barroso has not resisted pressure from member states who try to influence his decision.

Sarkozy pressure has been successful, and unsurprisingly the internal market portfolio including financial services went for his candidate Michel Barnier. In fact, according to Le Monde, Sarkozy said "The agreement on the role of Michel Barnier was sealed between Barroso and I three days ago. It's exceptional for France.” Moreover, he said "It's not that the Brits were hesitant, they were frankly against [Barnier's appointment].” However, Baroso has not even considered the UK’s request of separating financial services from the internal market portfolio. The UK campaign to stop this happening was obviously too late. France was therefore the bigger winner as it got one of most important posts as the European Commission has been particularly active in its response to the financial crisis.

According to Le Monde Sarkozy also said "It's the first time in 50 years that France has had this role. The English are the big losers in this business (…).” France is well known for its protectionist tendencies and will be in charge of the internal market and financial services. 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 and the draft directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers. The UK is already struggling to get these proposals substantially amended in order to protect the City of London interests. France in the aftermath of the financial crisis has made stricter regulation of the financial market a priority. France has been therefore calling for tough financial regulation and stronger financial supervision. Michel Barnier as the new internal market commissioner will be in charge of proposing future EU legislation in the financial sector. If there is something we can expect is further financial regulations against the interests of the City of London. According to The Times a senior City source said: “This is a disaster. They have appointed an incredibly prescriptive French politician who is hardline protectionist. He doesn’t care about Britain. This is a job which is critical for Britain, for the City, and it goes to the French.” Barroso in order to shut up the UK´s voices of concern over such nomination appointed Jonathan Faull, a senior UK civil servant, presently the director-general for justice, freedom and security, as the director-general for the internal market.

Mr Barroso has not only tried to please the member states but also the re-nominated commissioners and the European Parliament. The new Commission will have 12 members coming from the European People's Party (EPP), 6 from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), and 9 from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). Taking into account that none of the top positions went to the liberals and that ALDE support Barroso’s second term, they were therefore compensated with the Commission’s portfolios, they got the Economic and Monetary Affairs portfolio. Olli Rehn, from Finland, is the new commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs. The ALDE leader, Mr Verhofstadt has said “From the beginning, we were working on the top jobs in the Commission.What counts is not so much the people there but what were the portfolios […] and could these portfolios help us in our fight to have a more pro-European agenda.

Moreover, Barroso has also favoured his present colleagues as all but one of the posts of vice-presidents had been given to returning commissioners. The new Commission will have 7 Vice-Presidents, including Baroness Catherine Ashton, Viviane Reding, Joaquín Almunia, Siim Kallas, Neelie Kroes, Antonio Tajani and Maros Sefcovic.

Although Joaquin Almunia was not kept in his post as the Spanish government wanted he was given the competition portfolio. Neelie Kroes, from Netherlands, is now in charge of the Digital Agenda. Belgium has got the post of President of the European Council, nevertheless, Karel de Gucht, currently in charge of development and humanitarian aid will be the new trade commissioner. Guenther Oettinger, from Germany, will be the new Energy commissioner. He will have an instrumental role on the development of a common EU energy policy.

Barroso created a new portfolio, climate action which has been given to the Danish Connie Hedegaard, and Janez Potocnik, from Slovenia, will be the new Environment commissioner. He also has split the justice and home affairs portfolio into justice and fundamental rights on the one hand and home affairs on the other. According to the EuropeanVoice, he 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.” Hence, Viviane Reding, from Luxembourg, will become the commissioner for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship. The communications portfolio has been scraped but Vivien Reading will be in charge of the DG Communications. Cecilia Malmström, from Sweden, will be in charge of home affairs.

Romania has lobbied for the agriculture portfolio and it got it. In fact, this was another France’s victory, Sarkozy has said “(…) And the second victory is that our friends the Romanians have agriculture.” Dacian Ciolos will be the new agriculture and rural development commissioner. One could wonder if he will be seriously committed in reforming CAP.

Maria Damanaki, from Greece, will be the new commissioner for maritime affairs and fisheries. Poland got what it wanted, Janusz Lewandowski will be the commissioner for budget/financial programming.

Barroso has also split the development and humanitarian aid portfolio into two, hence Andris Piebalgs, from Latvia, and former energy commissioner, will be the development commissioner and Rumiana Jeleva, from Bulgaria, will be in charge of international cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response. Stefan Füle, from Czech Republic, is in charge of enlargement and European neighbourhood policy. It remains to be seen how they will work with Ms Ashton, as they are supposed to work in close cooperation with the High Representative/Vice-President.

Maros Sefcovic, from Slovakia, is the new commissioner for inter-institutional relations and administration. Antonio Tajani, from Italy, will be in charge of industry and entrepreneurship whereas Siim Kallas, from Estonia, got the transport portfolio. László Andor, from Hungary, is the new commissioner for employment, social affairs and inclusion. Algirdas Šemeta, from Lithuania, is the new commissioner for taxation and customs union, audit and anti-fraud. John Dalli, from Malta, is in charge of health and consumer policy, Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, from Ireland, is the new commissioner for research and innovation, and Johannes Hahn, from Austria, is in charge of regional policy. Androulla Vassiliou, from Cyprus, got the education, culture, multilingualism and youth portfolio.

Although France has not pursued one of the Lisbon Treaty’s posts no one can said that it left the summit with empty hands. It is important to recall that the EU leaders also appointed the present deputy secretary-general of the council, the French Pierre de Boissieu for the post of secretary-general of the EU Council of Ministers, until his retirement in June 2011. He won’t have a marginal role, in fact it is a quite powerful position. Pierre de Boissieu has been described as a “Brussels legend” and a “key player in European integration.” As Secretary-General he will assist the Council and “shall be closely and continually involved in organising, coordinating and ensuring the coherence of the Council's work and implementation of its 18-month programme.

Sarkozy got exactly what he wanted whereas Gordon Brown got his third choice for a post that he was not particularly interested in getting.

The hearings in the European Parliament’s committees for the Commissioners-designate will take place during the week of 11 to 14 January and on 18 and 19 January. The plenary’s vote on the entire Commission is planned for 26 January. Then, the Commission will be formally appointed by the European Council. Consequently, the new Commission would not take up its duties until February 2010. Theoretically, the European Parliament can only confirm or reject the entire Commission. But it 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. But Barroso has said “I talked to all the commissioners and asked them all whether there was anything in their political or economic background that could present a problem. And after having discussed the past with them, I am sure that is not the case.” Nevertheless, some MEPs already raised concerns over the communist pass of the Hungarian nominee, Laszlo Andor and the Czech Republic's nominee, Stefan Fuele.