Barroso II takes office

European Commission regains its full powers, after three-month hiatus.

The Barroso II European Commission officially took up its duties today (10 February), bringing an end to a three-month ‘caretaker’ period in which the EU executive has been unable to make legislative proposals or exercise most of its competences.

Governments gave their formal approval to the new Commission in a written procedure that was completed late last night. The Commission took office at midnight.

José Manuel Barroso and his 26 commissioners will travel together to Luxembourg in the coming weeks to be sworn into office at the European Court of Justice. This step is, however, a pure formality, and the commissioners can exercise their full powers without waiting for the swearing-in ceremony.

Barroso held an informal meeting with his new team of commissioners yesterday to discuss a ten-year strategy for growth and jobs that is being prepared by the Commission services, Europe 2020.

Officials said a further informal meeting may be held today to prepare for an EU summit taking place tomorrow (11 February).

The new Commission will hold its first formal meeting on Wednesday (17 February). It will be the first meeting since October 2009 at which the Commission will have its full powers to present draft legislation. These powers have been severely curtailed since 1 November, when the Barroso I Commission’s mandate came to an end. Since then the Commission has been operating in a caretaker capacity in which it has been able to take competition decisions and launch infringement proceedings but has not been able to adopt new initiatives.

Initiatives expected from the Commission in the coming weeks include the presentation of its new growth and jobs strategy (on 3 March), the adoption of its opinion on Iceland’s application to join the EU (24 February), and the adoption of a legal proposal to give the EU’s statistical office, Eurostat, auditing powers (expected this month).

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