| Janez Potocnik: EU Commissioner for Science and Research |
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Janez Potocnik
EU Commissioner for Science and Research
Brussels, Belgium
photo credit: EC
When the President of the European
Commission, former Portuguese Prime Minister José Manuel Barroso,
presented the line up of this future commission to the European
Parliament (EP) at the end of October 2004 he was not quite prepared
for what was to come: A united front of EP delegates opposing key
nominees of his commission proposal. When it became clear that Barroso
would not be able get a majority vote—Parliament can only opt to reject the entire team and not individual commissioners—he was forced to withdraw his proposal and return to the drawing board. Three weeks later, on November 18 the stand-off with Parliament was resolved, when Barroso presented a slightly modified team. Franco Frattini, the Italian foreign minister, replaced Rocco Buttiglione. Latvia
brought in Andris Piebalgs to replace much-criticized Ingrida Udre, and
Hungarian nominee Laszlo Kovacs was moved from the energy to the
taxation portfolio. On November 22, the 24-member commission finally took office.
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