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The Barroso Commission, composed of President José Manuel Durão Barroso and 24 more Commissioners, follows the Prodi Commission as the European Commission. It took office on 22 November 2004.
Originally set to take office in November 1, 2004, strong opposition by the European Parliament towards the first proposed composition of the Barroso composition, forced Barroso to withdraw it without submitting it to a vote of approval at the set date.
Approved composition
The following proposed list of portfolio holders was submitted by President-designate José Manuel Durão Barroso to the European Parliament for endorsement on November 18, and approved with 449 votes in favour, 149 against and 82 abstentions. This commission is due to serve until 31 October, 2009.
- José Manuel Durão Barroso (Portugal), President of the Commission
- Margot Wallström (Sweden), First Vice-President, Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy
- Jacques Barrot (France), Vice-President, Transport
- Franco Frattini (Italy), Vice-President, Justice, Freedom and Security
- Siim Kallas (Estonia), Vice-President, Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud
- Günter Verheugen (Germany), Vice-President, Enterprise and Industry
- Joaquín Almunia (Spain), Economic & Monetary Affairs
- Joe Borg (Malta), Fisheries and Maritime Affairs
- Stavros Dimas (Greece), Environment
- Dalia Grybauskaite (Lithuania), Financial Programming and Budget
- Benita Ferrero-Waldner (Austria), External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy
- Ján Figeľ (Slovakia), Education, Training, Culture, and Multilingualism
- Mariann Fischer Boel (Denmark), Agriculture and Rural Development
- Danuta Hübner (Poland), Regional Policy
- Andris Piebalgs (Latvia), Energy
- Neelie Kroes (Netherlands), Competition
- Markos Kyprianou (Cyprus), Health and Consumer Protection
- Charlie McCreevy (Ireland), Internal Market and Services
- Peter Mandelson (United Kingdom), Trade
- Louis Michel (Belgium), Development and Humanitarian Aid
- Janez Potočnik (Slovenia), Science and Research
- Viviane Reding (Luxembourg), Information Society and Media
- Olli Rehn (Finland), Enlargement
- Vladimír Špidla (Czech Republic), Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities
- László Kovács (Hungary), Taxation and Customs Union
The first proposed composition
The first announced list of portfolio holders was announced by President-designate José Manuel Durão Barroso on August 12, but failed to be approved by the European Parliament. The difference between the first proposed composition and the final one were the following:
- Rocco Buttiglione (Italy) held the position of Vice-President, and Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, instead of Franco Frattini
- Ingrida Udre was the Latvian Commissioner instead of Andris Piebalgs, and she was responsible for Taxation and Customs Union, which in the final composition is the portfolio of László Kovács.
- László Kovács was Commissioner in charge of Energy.
Hearings before the committees of the European Parliament questioned the suitability of several of the candidates; a full-scale row broke out over Rocco Buttiglione's reported views on homosexuality and women, and the committees also found fault with
- László Kovács for insufficient professional competence in the energy field,
- Neelie Kroes for insufficient detailed grasp of certain specific subjects,
- Mariann Fischer-Boel for insufficient determination to defend European farmer's interests, and an unwillingness to enter into a dialogue with the Parliament,
- and noted that Ingrida Udre faced allegations of irregularities in the funding of her political party
From the above, the greatest issue was the views of Rocco Buttiglione. Though he had the support of the Conservatives (the largest of the European Parliament party groups), the Socialists and the Liberals refused to vote for a Commission that retained Buttiglione in the specific post.
With the rejection by the European Parliament seeming extremely probable, on 27 October 2004, José Manuel Durão Barroso withdrew his proposal for the new Commission. Later Italy's government announced its withdrawal of Buttiglione from the post of designate Commissioner, nominating Franco Frattini in his place. At Barroso's request, Latvia's government likewise withdrew Ingrida Udre, nominating Andris Piebalgs in her place. Andris Piebalgs had previously served as "chef de cabinet" to Sandra Kalniete, Latvia's member of the Prodi Commission. Lastly Hungarian Laszlo Kovacs was reshuffled to the Taxation and customs position.
In office
Barroso's Commission faced another scandal when, shortly before the Commission entered office, it was revealed by UKIP MEP Nigel Farage that Jacques Barrot, the Commissioner from France, had been convicted of fraud in 2000. After his, Barrot received a presidential amnesty from Jacques Chirac, making it illegal in France to even mention his conviction. Members of the Socialist and Liberal groups in the European Parliament urged Barroso to suspend Barrot from the Commission for failing to disclose his conviction during the confirmation period. Barrot has been a Commissioner since January 2000, serving as Commissioner for Regional Policy under Romano Prodi.
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