It is up to Commission President José Manuel Barroso to complete the allocation of portfolios, a process expected to be completed within days, and he has hinted that EU leaders were pressuring him to assign particular posts to their country’s nominee.

“Let’s be blunt, all of us are subject to pressures and requests. But at the end of the day I have the final responsibility,” Mr Barroso said during a question-and-answer session with MEPs.

The new Commission’s make-up must be approved, in its entirety by a qualified majority of both European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, and will start work at the end of January.

So far, only 2 posts have been confirmed: President Barroso is Portugal’s Commissioner while UK Commissioner Catherine Ashton has been appointed to be the first High Representative for Foreign Affairs, a post created under the Lisbon Treaty.

Denmark is known to be pushing for the post of Climate Commissioner. The country, which will be hosting the UN Climate Change Summit next month, has nominated Climate Minister Connie Hedegaard, and Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has acknowledged expressing the country’s intentions to Mr Barroso.

France is believed to be aiming for the internal markets portfolio, amid British concerns that the French nominee, MEP Michel Barnier, would seek to heavily regulate hedge funds and private equity funds, thus damaging the City of London’s financial institutions. However, it is widely believed that France has been promised the post in return for its support for Baroness Ashton’s appointment.

Italy, which has confirmed Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani as its nominee, is seeking the trade portfolio vacated by Baroness Ashton, although the post is also believed to be sought by Netherlands, which has re-nominated Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes.

A slight majority of member states, 14 in all, have re-nominated their current Commissioner, including Portugal and the UK. In 4 of these cases, however, the Commissioner was nominated in the last 6 months: Belgium’s Karel de Gucht and Poland’s Pawel Samecki replaced Louis Michel and Danuta Hübner respectively in July after the latter opted to become MEPs, Lithuania’s Algirdaš Semeta replaced Dalia Grybauskaitė after she became the country’s President in July while Slovakia’s Ján Figeľ resigned in October to become leader of the country’s Christian Democratic Movement party.

In many cases, outgoing Commissioners are affiliated to political parties no longer in government, although some exceptions exist.

A total of 9 women are set to feature in the next Commission. The number is 1 higher than the Commission’s current composition, but 1 lower than its composition prior to Ms Grybauskaitė and Ms Hübner’s departures.

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