Barroso II. The Policy commitments of the 2010-2014 European Commission 

The 2010-2014 European Commission is the first College to take office under the Lisbon Treaty.

Apart from the President, José Manuel Barroso, 13 commissioners sat in the previous College - although only seven were part of the initial team. Each returning member is responsible for a different portfolio from the one held in the previous College. Barroso II includes nine women – the highest ever proportion of female commissioners. The Commission leans to the centre-right: although three of the seven vice-presidents come from member parties of the Party of European Socialists, there are only six Socialists in total. There are eight Liberals (including two vice-presidents) and thirteen commissioners from the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), including the President.

The European Parliament elected Mr Barroso to the presidency with a resounding mandate (more than half of all MEPs supporting his candidacy). It rejected just one commissioner-designate in its scrutiny of the College, and the approval process was generally smoother than in 2004, when two nominees were forced to withdraw and changes made to portfolios. However, final approval of the College (supported by the EPP, Socialists and Liberals) came only after Mr Barroso made a public commitment to strengthen parliamentary scrutiny and set clear deadlines to respond to legislative initiative requests made by the Parliament (three months to respond to an own-initiative Resolution by the Parliament and one year for the submission of a proposal to MEPs).

This poster outlines the main policy commitments made by the new commissioners during their hearings before Parliament in early 2010. In some cases, the pledges are few in number and vague; indeed, some
senior parliamentarians complained about the unwillingness of many nominees to explain their vision and make concrete promises for action. Nevertheless, the commissioners did make a number of clear commitments and with this chart Burson-Marsteller gives you the opportunity to evaluate their progress in matching their words with deeds throughout the term of the Barroso II Commission.