On November 1, 2019 a new college of European commissioners is due to take office. Practitioners are eager to know who will be in charge of competition.
Designation of the EU commissioners
The new team will have one commissioner per Member State except the UK, which is preparing to exit the EU by October 31. All governments have designated their candidate except Italy, which first needs to complete the formation of a new national government coalition.
Once Italy has designated its candidate, Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen will communicate the planned attribution of portfolios among the commissioners-designate in the coming weeks. Later in September/October, the European Parliament will hold "hearings" and vote to confirm or reject the group of candidates.
Candidates and portfolio attributions can still change until the very end of the confirmation process.
Vestager should be senior vice president
Following the European elections, negotiations between national governments and between political groups have resulted in a plan to reshape the power structure of the Commission. Part of that plan is that current competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager will get one of two senior vice presidency posts, and her responsibilities could encompass several policy fields in a sort of "super-portfolio"; but it is still unclear which policies she would oversee.
Potential competition commissioners
Before the elections, Vestager had expressed the wish to continue her work with DG COMP. As senior vice president of the Commission, she could be in charge of competition herself, or she could oversee another commissioner in charge of that portfolio, but it cannot be excluded, either, that competition falls outside her remit completely. No commissioner has overseen competition for two consecutive terms since the reappointment of Karel Van Miert in 1995.
Other countries, notably Poland and Italy, have expressed their interest in the competition portfolio. While it seems that Poland is finally getting agriculture, Italy's chances will largely depend on the profile of its future candidate.
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