Juncker team

The new European Commission 2014-2019; bureaucrats or shamans

November 2014

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union, in other words it drives the political agenda of the EU. There are 28 Commissioners, one from each EU Member State; they serve a 5 year term and are each responsible for a specific area. A new Commission is appointed after the elections of the European Parliament.The main role of the European Commission is to:

set the objectives and priorities of the EU;propose legislation to the European Parliament and Council;manage and implement EU policies;manage the EU budget;enforce European law.

The European Commission

The new European Commission officially started its term of office on 1 November 2014; its President is Jean-Claude Juncker, indicated by the European People’s Party (EPP). The President is the head of the Commission. In fact:

he allocates portfolios to other members of the Commission;sets the policy agenda and work of the whole Commission;chairs all its meetings.

Juncker was elected by the EU Parliament on July 15; he is the first President of the European Commission to have been chosen by the parliamentary groups: in fact, during the EU Parliament election campaign parties had indicated their respective candidate for President.Up until the previous Barroso Commission, the candidate was essentially proposed by the Council of the European Union and the EP could only approve or reject the nomination.

The Juncker Commission: 2014-2019

In his investiture speech before the European Parliament, President Juncker outlined the main objectives he intends to pursue during his mandate:

boost jobs, growth and investment;create a connected digital single market;a resilient energy union; a forward-looking climate change policy.

According to the French daily “Le Monde”, Juncker’s task is “enormous, given the weakness of the institution after President Barroso’s ten-year tenure”. Like most of the foreign press, the newspaper indicated three main challenges for 2014-2019:

consolidation of the Euro;keeping the United Kingdom in the European Union;creation of a common immigration policy.

The Juncker Commission: challenges and objectives

Very few politicians in Europe have the experience and sway of the Luxembourgian Jean-Claude Juncker, aged 60, a real “heavyweight” in the continent’s political arena. Although chosen by the EPP, the party of which Angela Merkel is also a member, he is independent enough to have been able to choose a French socialist as the Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs.

The President: Jean-Claude Juncker

Prime Minister of Luxembourg, continuously from 1995 to 2013.In 2013, after seven years, he resigned as the President of the Eurogroup because he was “tired” of Franco-German interference in managing the economic crisis.The Dutch newspaper De Volkskrandt defined the way Juncker chose the Commissioners as “revolutionary”. According to the Spanish El Pais, Juncker showed he wanted “to command” and that “he refuses to be controlled by Germany”.In 2007 he was awarded the Gran Croce dell’Ordine al Merito of the Italian Republic, the highest national order of knighthoods in Italy.Only four days after taking up his new post, he had already slapped Matteo Renzi on the wrist: “I am not the president of a band of bureaucrats. I am the President of the European Commission, an institution that deserves respect”. Unlike Renzi, given the way he became Prime Minister?

In short, Jean-Claude Juncker

The Vice-Presidents : Frans Timmermans

Juncker nominated 7 Vice-Presidents from amongst the 28 Commissioners.Frans Timmermans is the First Vice-President, i.e., the President’s closest direct collaborator. Dutch, 53, he is Commissioner for Better Regulation, Interinstitutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Although he comes from a party aligned with the European Socialist Party (ESP), Timmermans has very moderate positions in line with Juncker’s.From 2012 to 2014 he was the Dutch Foreign Minister.Europe is his destiny: the son of a diplomat, he was born in Maastricht.He speaks English, German, French, Russian and Italian fluently, as well as Dutch, his mother tongue.He is a great supporter of AS Roma: he says he is “Roman and Romanista”.His address to the UN after the death of roughly 200 Dutch citizens in the catastrophic crash of flight MH17 (Malaysia Airlines) was seen over 1,000,000 times on Youtube.

In short, Frans Timmermans

The Vice-Presidents : Federica Mogherini

The Italian Federica Mogherini, 41, former Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Renzi Government, was assigned the prestigious position as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy: after the British Catherine Ashton, another Lady FASP!

She was the youngest Minister of Foreign Affairs in the history of the Italian Republic.Until 2013 she was not exactly a Renzi supporter. She once wrote the following tweet: “Renzi needs to study foreign affairs. He doesn’t even make the grade”. Who knows if he chose her after doing a little swatting!The Financial Times, the Economist and Le Monde criticised her nomination; they judged her to be incompetent because she had very little experience in the international arena: are 20 years in the field not enough?She says that the song Bella Ciao is “the best lullaby in the world”.

In short, Federica Mogherini

The Vice-Presidents: Kristalina Georgieva

Kristalina Georgieva, 61, Bulgarian, was nominated Commissioner for the Budget and Human Resources.

Former Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response during the second Barroso Commission (2010-2014), the Bulgarian Government again proposed her as their Commission candidate. She has never held institutional or government positions in Bulgaria.In 2010 she was elected Commissioner of the Year by the weekly European Voice for her work coordinating the European response to the humanitarian crisis after the earthquake in Haiti.She was indicated by the Bulgarian government as a candidate for the position of Lady FASP: it appears that European foreign affairs are a task only for women!

In short, Kristalina Georgieva

The Vice-Presidents : Valdis Dombrovskis

Valdis Dombrovskis, 43, Latvian, conservative, is Commissioner for the Euro and Social Dialogue.

He was elected for the first time to the European Parliament in 2004.From 2009 to 2013 he was Prime Minister of Latvia.He resigned after an tragedy in Riga in which 54 people died when the roof of a supermarket collapsed.He has a degree in Physics.His responsibilities include making decisions about support for struggling Eurozone Countries, reviewing the fiscal and macroeconomic surveillance legislation: six pack and two-pack, for example. Well, good luck!

In short, Valdis Dombrovskis

The The Vice-Presidents : Andrus Ansip

Andrus Ansip, 58, Estonian, President of the Reformierakond party aligned with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) in the European Parliament, is Commissioner for the Single Digital Market.

He was Prime Minister of Estonia, continuously, from 2005 to 2014.At the Parliamentary Elections in 2007 he was the most voted candidate in the history of an independent Estonia. He worked in the financial world and has been CEO of 3 different Estonian investment funds.During his political career he has been a member of 8 centre-right parties.

In short, Andrus Ansip

The Vice-Presidents : Jyrki Katainen

Jyrki Katainen, 43, Finnish, conservative, registered with the EPP, was chosen by Jean-Claude Juncker as the new Commissioner for Jobs, Investments, Growth and Competitiveness.

He was the Commissioner of Economic and Monetary Affairs during the second Barroso Commission.In 2008 the Financial Times elected him the best European Minister of Finance.He was Prime Minister of Finland from 2011 to 2014.In 2007 and 2009 he took part in the annual conference of the Bilderberg Group.He is a marathon runner.As soon as he took up his post, he expressed his own ideas about the Budget Law presented by the Italian Government, stigmatising a “significant departure from the objectives” of the balanced budget rule. In short, Italy flunked the test: well begun is half done…

In short, Jyrky Katainen

The Vice-Presidents : Maroš Šefčovič

Maroš Šefčovič, 48, Slovak, is Commissioner for the Energy Union. Here is some data about a key-player in the next European government.

He was Commissioner for Inter-institutional relations and Administration in the second Barroso Commission from 2010 to 2014.He was the Ambassador of Slovakia to Israel.For many years there has been talk of the “completion of the internal Energy market” in Europe, but so far the results have not really been encouraging. Will the new Commissioner prove the sceptics wrong?

In short, Maroš Šefčovič

The other Commissioners

Pierre Moscovici

57, French, socialist is Com-missioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs.Despite the fact Katainen, the austerity champion, will “keep a close eye” on him, his nomi-nation as head of a key-Com-mission received a cold wel-come by Angela Merkel. So, was it a good choice?

Günther Oettinger

61, German, people’s party, is Commissioner for the Digi-tal Economy and Society.Former Commissioner for En-ergy under Barroso, in 2011 he made the brilliant pro-posal to fly the flags of the EU countries with a budget deficit at half mast. However he later apologised.


Cecilia Malmström

46, Swedish, liberal, is Com-missioner for Trade.A convinced pro-Europe sup-porter, she believes that Swe-den should adopt the Euro. However, in her own Country, not everyone would be so en-thusiastic.

Jonathan Hill

54, British, conservative, is Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital markets Union.Regulation of financial services and capital markets are likely the main cause of London’s euroscepticism. Who knows whether making them respon-sible for managing these af-fairs might make them more pro-EU!


Marianne Thyssen

58, Belgian, people’s party, is Commissioner for Employ-ment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility.She was an MEP for 23 con-secutive years, from 1991 to 2014. In short, a homage to labour mobility!

Miguel Arias Cañete

64, Spanish, people’s party, is Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy.His nomination caused con-cern due to his possible con-flict of interest: Cañete and some of his family members were shareholders in two oil companies. The Commission-er says he has sold his shares, but his brother has not.


Violeta Bulc

50, Slovenian, is Commission-er for Transport. Slovenian had initially indicat-ed the former Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek, but the Eu-ropean Parliament rejected the nomination believing her to be “incompetent”.Telecommunications entre-preneur, she has a black belt in taekwondo, goes to lessons held by a shaman and has learnt how to walk on fire!

Tibor Navracsics

48, Hungarian, is Commis-sioner for Education, Cul-ture, Youth and Sport. He was nominated even thought the EU Parliament rejected him: as a member of the Hungarian government headed by Orbàn, in 2011 Nav-racsics implemented a reform which severely curtailed the freedom of the press in Hungary. Long live culture!


Philip Hogan

54, Irish, people’s party, is Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development.As Minister of the Environment in Ireland he severely criti-cised the “Nitrates Directive” which limits stock farming and liquid manure discharging. He succeeded in obtaining a der-ogation for Irish breeders for whom the limits have been raised by almost 50% com-pared to other EU Countries.

Johannes Hahn

57, Austrian, people’s party, is Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy & En-largement Negotiations.When he was Commissioner for Regional Policy he examined the exaggerated demands for eco-nomic aid presented by several Italian regions after the freak snowstorms in 2012 and stated: “I can’t say anything about the outcome of our work, because it is still ongoing. But in any case, snow normally melts…”.


Neven Mimica

61, Croatian, social democrat, is Commissioner for Inter-national Cooperation and Development.He was the first European Commissioner in the his-tory of Croatia. His audition at the EU Parlia-ment took place immediately after Oettinger. The MEPs commented as follows on his excellent performance: “A re-lief, after that piece of ice!”

DimitrisAvramopoulos

61, Greek, is Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship.His was one of the most con-troversial and criticised nomi-nations: as the Greek Minister of Defence, in 2012 he built a barbed wire fence 12.5 km long between Greece and Tur-key to stop migrants and fu-gitives from entering. What a nice business card for a Com-missioner for Migration: will it still be Fortress Europe?


Christos Stylianidis

54, Cypriot, people’s party, is Commissioner for Humani-tarian Aid and Crisis Man-agement.On 24 October 2014 the Euro-pean Council nominated Styl-ianidis EU Coordinator for the Ebola crisis in West Africa.

Margrethe Vestager

46, Danish, liberal, is Commis-sioner for Competition.During meetings she often knits, she adores knitting!


Vytenis Andriukaitis

63, Lithuanian, socialist, is Commissioner for Health and Food Safety.In 1941 the Soviet regime de-ported his family to Siberia. In 1990 he was a co-signato-ry of the Act of the Re-Es-tablishment of the State of Lithuania.

Karmenu Vella

64, Maltese, is Commissioner for the Environment, Mari-time Affairs and Fisheries.The EU Parliament did not ob-ject to his nomination, but said it was dissatisfied with his audition.


Elżbieta Bieńkowska

50, Polish, is Commissioner for the Internal Market, In-dustry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs.Together with Donald Tusk, the newly-elected President of the European Council, she is part of the “golden couple” of Polish politics.

Carlos Moedas

44, Portuguese, is Commis-sioner for Research, Sci-ence and Innovation.During his audition in front of the EU Parliament he said: “I better at doing things rather than speaking.


Věra Jourová

50, Czech, she is Commis-sioner for Justice, Consum-ers and Gender Equality.In 2006 she spent one month under house arrest accused of corruption, but was later ac-quitted

Corina Creţu

47, Romanian, liberal, she is Commissioner for Regional Affairs.During her audition in front of the EU Parliament she said: “we certainly need wellness centre for people and ani-mals, but there are more im-portant things in which to in-vest our resources”.

Juncker team

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