The president of the European Commission,also known as president of the College of Commissioners or prime commissioner,is the head of the European Commission,the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president of the commission leads a cabinet of commissioners,referred to as the college. The president is empowered to allocate portfolios among,reshuffle,or dismiss commissioners as necessary. The college directs the commission's civil service,sets the policy agenda and determines the legislative proposals it produces. The commission is the only body that can propose,or draft,bills to become EU laws.
Günter Verheugen is a German politician who served as European Commissioner for Enlargement from 1999 to 2004,and then as European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry from 2004 to 2010. He was also one of five vice presidents of the 27-member Barroso Commission. After his retirement,he is now honorary Professor at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder).
Janusz Antoni Lewandowski is a Polish politician and economist belonging to the Gdańsk liberals group,and a former member of the European Parliament,Chairman of the Committee on Budgets. On 27 November 2009 he obtained the post of Budget and Financial Programming Commissioner of the European Commission and is affiliated to the European People's Party (EPP). He was re-elected for the 8th term (2014–2019) of the European Parliament,as a member of the EPP group.
Artis Pabriks is a Latvian politician. Since January 2019 he has been the Minister for Defence and Deputy Prime Minister of Latvia. From 2014 to 2018,he was a Member of the European Parliament.
The Barroso Commission was the European Commission in office from 22 November 2004 until 31 October 2014. Its president was JoséDurão Barroso,who presided over 27 other commissioners. On 16 September 2009 Barroso was re-elected by the European Parliament for a further five years and his Commission was approved to take office on 9 February 2010.
Olli Ilmari Rehn is a Finnish public official who has been serving as governor of the Bank of Finland since 2018. A member of the Centre Party,he previously served as the European Commissioner for Enlargement from 2004 to 2010,European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro from 2010 to 2014,and Minister of Economic Affairs in Juha Sipilä's cabinet from 2015 until 2016. Rehn ran for President of Finland as an independent candidate in 2024,but was not elected.
Stavros Dimas is a Greek politician who was European Commissioner for the Environment from 2004 to 2009. From November 2011 to May 2012,he served in the government of Greece as Minister for Foreign Affairs. The New Democracy–PASOK coalition government nominated him for the post of President of Greece in December 2014,but he failed to achieve the necessary votes,forcing the dissolution of parliament.
Roberts Zīle is a Latvian economist and politician and Vice President of the European Parliament for the National Alliance,a free market national conservative right-wing populist political party in Latvia. In the seventh term of the European Parliament,he works in the European Conservatives and Reformists group;he is a member of European Conservatives and Reformists Group Executive and a member of the group Bureau. He was formerly vice-president of the now defunct Union for a Europe of Nations group.
Connie Hedegaard Koksbang is a Danish politician and public intellectual. She was European Commissioner for Climate Action in the European Commission from 10 February 2010 through 31 October 2014.
Sergey Dmitrievich Stanishev is a Bulgarian politician who served Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 2005 to 2009. A member of the Socialist Party,which he led from 2001 to 2014,he later served as Member of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2024. Stanishev was also the President of the European Socialists from 2011 to 2022 and a Member of the National Assembly from 1997 to 2005 and from 2009 to 2014.
Ingrīda Latimira,formerly Ingrīda Ūdre,was a Latvian politician who belonged to the Latvian Farmers' Union political party.
Leonard Orban is a Romanian independent technocrat who served as the Commissioner for Multilingualism in the European Commission,the executive body of the European Union (EU). He was responsible for the EU language policy and was the first Romanian Commissioner and the first member of the Commission whose portfolio is exclusively multilingualism. His term of office began on 1 January 2007 and ended on 9 February 2010. With a background in engineering and economics,Orban has taken up various posts working for the accession of Romania to the European Union,most prominently as Deputy and later as Chief Negotiator for his country at the time of final negotiations with the European Union.
The European Commissioner for Energy is a member of the European Commission. The current Commissioner is Kadri Simson,in office since 1 December 2019.
Christos Papoutsis is a Greek socialist politician who has served as Minister for Citizen Protection (2010–12),Mercantile Marine Minister (2000–01) Member of the European Parliament (1984–95) and European Commissioner for Energy and Euratom Supply Agency,Small business and Tourism (1995–1999). He has also served as the Secretary of the Parliamentary Group and Parliamentary Spokesman for the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK),the majority party in Greece (2009–2010). He also was candidate for Mayor of Athens (2002).
Neven Mimica is a Croatian politician and diplomat who has been serving as European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development in the Juncker Commission since 1 November 2014. He was previously the European Commissioner for Consumer Protection in the Second Barroso Commission from July 2013 until November 2014 and was in that regard the first European Union Commissioner from Croatia following its accession to the European Union.
The history of the European Union from 2004 to the present is the current timeline of the European Union. It is a period of significant upheaval and reform following the 2004 enlargement of the European Union. The EU has taken on ten new members,eight of which were initially much poorer than the EU average,and took in a further two in 2007 with many more on the way. It created the euro a few years before and had to expand this,and the Schengen Area to its new members. However this was overshadowed by the late-2000s recession and damaging disputes over the European Constitution and its successor,the Treaty of Lisbon. Throughout this period,the European People's Party has been the largest group in the European Parliament and provides every President of the European Commission.
Unity is a liberal-conservative political party in Latvia. It is a member of the New Unity alliance and is positioned on the centre-right on the political spectrum. Since 2017,its chairman of the Main Board has been the former Minister for Economics of Latvia,Arvils Ašeradens,who succeeded former European Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.
The Juncker Commission was the European Commission in office from 1 November 2014 to 30 November 2019. Its president was Jean-Claude Juncker,who presided over 27 other commissioners. In July 2014,Juncker was officially elected to succeed JoséManuel Barroso,who completed his second five-year term in that year.
Events in the year 2014 in the European Union.
