Three cheers (and questions) for the new Commission

Antonio Missiroli and Janis A. Emmanouilidis

EPC Commentary

Brussels 12/2009

In the new European Commission unveiled last week President Barroso achieved a virtuoso balancing act in political, geographic, personal and even gender terms, but the new set-up also raises unanswered questions, argue Antonio Missiroli and Janis Emmanouilidis in this EPC Commentary. First, with the reorganisation of the individual Commission portfolios, where exactly will responsibility lie for the post-Lisbon Agenda, and for the complexity of immigration and asylum policy and external policies in a broader sense; and should Barroso create focussed ‘pools’ of Commissioners? More generally, what new big project will galvanise the Union next?

The Commentary was published on 1 December 2009 and can also be found on the EPC website. See here.