New EU Commissioners: profiles

EU: The members of the European Commission who are due to take up office in November for a five-year term, with their portfolios…

EU: The members of the European Commission who are due to take up office in November for a five-year term, with their portfolios:

José Manuel Barroso, President (Portugal). One-time Maoist activist who became a conservative Portuguese prime minister, he famously hosted a pre-Iraq War meeting in the Azores with President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spain's then head of government, José Maria Aznar.

Günter Verheugen, Vice-President, Industry (Germany). Outgoing Enlargement Commissioner . Joaquín Almunia, Economic and Monetary Affairs (Spain). Keeps key portfolio he inherited in April from compatriot Pedro Solbes, who returned to Spain to join the new government.

Peter Mandelson, Trade (UK). Former Northern Ireland Secretary and one of Tony Blair's closest allies.

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Danuta Hübner, Regional Policy (Poland). Former deputy foreign minister has been shadowing Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy since Polish accession. Charlie McCreevy, Internal Market (Ireland). Leaving after seven high-profile years as Minister for Finance.

Rocco Buttiglione, Vice-President, Justice and Security (Italy). Currently Italy's European affairs minister, he is a close friend of Pope John Paul II.

Margot Wallstrom, Vice-President, Institutional Relations (Sweden). Outgoing Environment Commissioner .

Mariann Fischer Boel, Agriculture (Denmark). Former agriculture and fisheries minister is a grand-daughter of Marius Boel, inventor of Danish Blue cheese.

Neelie Kroes, Competition (Netherlands). Described as "Nickel Neelie" because of her connections in the corporate world, she was identified as the Netherlands' most powerful woman by the Financial Times in 1988.

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy (Austria). Became Austria's first female foreign minister in 2000.

Jacques Barrot, Vice-President and Transport (France). Became Commissioner for Regional policy last spring when Michel Barnier was recalled to Paris to become foreign minister.

Other Commissioners and their portfolios:

Vice-President and Commissioner for Administrative affairs: Siim Kallas (Estonia);

Information society and media: Viviane Reding (Luxembourg);

Environment: Stavros Dimas (Greece);

Fisheries, maritime affairs: Joe Borg (Malta);

Budget: Dalia Grybauskaite (Lithuania);

Science and research: Janez Potocnik (Slovenia); Education, culture: Ján Figel(Slovakia);

Health, consumer protection: Markos Kyprianou (Cyprus);

Enlargement: Olli Rehn (Finland);

Development and Humanitarian aid: Louis Michel (Belgium);

Energy: Laszlo Kovacs (Hungary);

Employment, social policy: Vladimir Spidla (Czech); Taxation and customs: Ingrida Udre (Latvia).