From the PRESS RELEASE of ALDE in the European Parliament:

Distribution: immediate – November 27, 2009, 12:43 pm
Liberals to play a major role in new Commission

Guy Verhofstadt, Liberal and Democrat group leader in the European Parliament, responded positively to the announcement today by President Barroso that Liberal commissioners will be assigned a number of key portfolios in the new Commission. As the Commission is the engine of the European Union, the Liberal group will play a key role in the policy of the Union in the next five years. This is what the ALDE Group and its leader Guy Verhofstadt aimed for.

“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.”
“Liberals have proven their worth in the past and will undoubtedly do so again in the next five years. The European Commission, in cooperation with the European Parliament, is the engine of European integration and the guardian of the Treaties which underpin our Union. 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.”

“Liberals in both the Commission and Parliament will work hard to ensure a coherent, principled and pro-European approach is always upheld in the various policy fields and that the Community method takes precedence over nationalism or intergovernmentalism.”

“Finally I am delighted that Liberals remained true to their commitment to gender balance in the selection of commissioners. At the end of the day actions speak louder than words and President Barroso can be pleased that he has both high quality and an even balance of men and women amongst the Liberal colleagues in his new team.”

Almost one third of the Barroso II Commission will be Liberals and half of the Liberal commissioners will be female providing almost half of the total number of female commissioners. The Liberal commissioners and their portfolios are as follows:

Siim Kallas (Vice President):        Transport
Neelie Kroes (Vice President):      Digital agenda
Máire Geoghegan Quinn:              Research, science & innovation
Karel De Gucht:                           Trade
Cecilia Malmström:                      Home affairs
Janez Potocnik:                           Environment
Olli Rehn:                                    Economic and monetary affairs
Androulla Vassiliou:                     Education & culture, multilingualism and youth

For more information, please contact:
Neil Corlett: +32-2-284 20 77 or +32-478-78 22 84
e-mail:  neil.corlett at europarl.europa.eu

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And from EUObserver we learn some more:

The EU commission’s most influential jobs – competition and economic affairs – seem to have been earmarked for two veterans on the Barroso team – Spaniard Joaquin Almunia and Finn Olli Rehn, news wires and national media in Germany, France and Italy report.

All commission pieces need to fall into place for Barroso to announce its composition. (Photo: wikipedia)Comment article

Mr Rehn, currently the enlargement commissioner known for his rigour in applying EU rules to candidate countries, will take up Mr Almunia’s present portfolio, economic and monetary affairs. His task will not raise his popularity among EU capitals – to make sure that national governments bring their deficits down, after lax spending policies due to the economic crisis.

Mr Almunia will be promoted to the competition file, where he sill oversee anti-trust cases, the commission’s most feared instrument. Its current commissioner, Dutch Liberal Neelie Kroes, is set to take over telecoms, a dossier with fast-growing prominence around internet copyright issues.

Germany’s surprise candidate for the EU commission, Gunther Oettinger, is set to get the energy dossier, which has risen in prominence after Russia’s gas cut-offs in the winter of 2006 and 2009. Some diplomats quoted by Reuters allude to Mr Oettinger’s nationality as a warranty of having more clout when dealing with Moscow on energy issues than the current commissioner, Andris Piebalgs from Latvia.

Another relatively new face to the EU commission, Belgian commissioner Karel de Gucht, will most likely win the trade portfolio, Der Spiegel and Belgian media report. Mr de Gucht, a Flemish centre-right politician, has been in charge of development in the past four months, after former commissioner Louis Michel resigned to take up his mandate as an MEP following the June elections.

One point of uncertainty concerns France’s Michel Barnier, who could get the internal market file, but stripped of its financial regulation elements, which most likely will become a separate portfolio. It is still unclear what Paris’ next move will be if this is the case. President Nicolas Sarkozy could even withdraw Mr Barnier and put forward Christine Lagarde, whose strong credentials could re-jig the whole scheme, some EU officials speculate.

As for Italy, Adkronos reports that “chances are at 70 percent” that its current commissioner Antonio

Tajani will get the industry portfolio. Otherwise he could also stay on as transport commissioner, which he held since May 2008 when former Italian commissioner Franco Frattini resigned to become foreign minister in Rome.

Another sure bid seems to be Denmark’s enviroment minister Connie Hedegaard for climate commissioner, which will be split from the current environment portfolio.

New member states, especially eastern ones, seem to be less certain of what they will get, with several options on the table, such as enlargement, justice and home affairs, research, education, agriculture and fisheries. It is unlikely, however, that Bulgaria, as has been speculated, will get justice and home affairs, due to its constant problems with corruption.

Romania is still strongly pushing for the agriculture portfolio, with a former farming minister put forward for this specific file. But MEPs may object to giving agriculture to a country that has had some farm aid frozen due to problems in the management of funds. Fishieries may be a compromise option.

The European Parliament will hold hearings on all the commissioner nominees in January.

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and some more from:
 dominic.hamer at nortonrose.com

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