2014 – EU commissioners cluster?

In discussions on the reorganization of European institutions the idea of ​​an EU commissioners cluster begins to emerge, which will be composed again of 28 commissioners. European Parliament proposed this spring 2014 by a resolution that "additional measures, such as the appointment of commissioners without portfolio and establishing a system of Vice-presidents of EC with responsibilities on major thematic clusters and skills to coordinate work in areas corresponding EC would be considered for more efficient functioning of the Commission, without prejudice to the right to appoint a Commissioner for each Member State and the right to vote of all Commissioners”.

Practically speaking, it is the idea to have 5 groups and five commissioners to oversee the work of others in certain clusters. There is a concrete proposal, including what kind of policy is to be addressed, coming from representatives of major European companies. They recently proposed five new immediate actions to the European Commission in order to increase the attractiveness and competitiveness of Europe. In addition to this, including an ambitious "energy plan”, it promotes creativeness and capitalizing on talent. Business today in Brussels believes that the easiest and fastest way to improve competitiveness is to improve governance. In this context, the main recommendation would be to group the 28 commissioners into 5 clusters: Macro-Economy; Industry, Services and Digitization; Energy and Environment; Home Affairs; and External Relations.

Present at the European Business Summit this year, Barroso said that the cluster approach could be a working hypothesis for the next Commission.

Dan LUCA / Brussels