He is one of 24 commissioners named after detailed consultations with each nominee Commissioner. His responsibilities include the chairmanship of a commission task force that has been entrusted with the developing of a green paper on maritime policy.

Germany, France and Britain got their expected heavyweight economic portfolios in the new European Commission yesterday, but surprisingly some of the most influential jobs at the European Union’s head office went to some of the smallest countries.

Commission President-designate José Manuel Barroso’s decision to hand antitrust and state aid policy to Holland, internal market rules to Ireland, and taxation and customs to Latvia was likely to signal a pro-reform bias in attempts to spur the continent’s chronically sluggish economic growth.

“We must seek new high tech means to foster growth while maintaining our industrial base,” Barroso told reporters yesterday in disclosing his new team. “Only by creating new jobs can we build on our successful European social model.”

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had been pushing for his candidate – Guenter Verheugen – to move from his current post overseeing potential new members to an important economic post, given Germany’s position as the EU’s biggest – albeit struggling – economy. Verheugen was named one of five vice-presidents, with specific responsibility for enterprise, industry and coordinating competitiveness issues.

France’s Jacques Barrot, a close ally of French President Jacques Chirac, was named vice-president in charge of transport, while British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s close friend, Peter Mandelson, takes over the trade portfolio.

But arguably the commission’s most powerful post, which rules on mergers, antitrust cases and illegal state subsidies to business, went to former Dutch Transport Minister Neelie Kroes.

She was president for a decade of one of Europe’s top business schools, Nijenrode University, and now serves on a dozen corporate boards. She will replace Italy’s Mario Monti, a Yale-trained economist who made a name for himself in global markets by taking on the likes of General Electric Co. and Microsoft Corp.

“She has an extensive experience as member of government, also she knows business well,” Barroso said of Kroes, a long-standing member of the Dutch Liberal Party. “She knows the private sector. I think it is good to have someone who really knows the private sector.”

Ireland’s Charlie McCreevy was put in charge of the internal market and financial markets, while taxation was given to Latvia’s Ingrida Udre, a sign that efforts by France and Germany to “harmonise” business taxes would not go far.

McCreevy, Irish finance minister since 1997, presided over the most dynamic economy within the 25-nation bloc, spurred by relatively low business taxes – a model copied by many of the new countries that joined the EU last May, including Latvia.

Underscoring the new emphasis on European competitiveness, Mandelson said he was anxious to undertake the trade post “both for trade policy and the international dimension” of competition.

“Europe will continue to benefit from globalisation as long as trade and investment are further liberalised and if Europe preserves its long-term competitiveness, its capacity for innovation and

its social market economy,” Mandelson said in a statement.

A relative newcomer to the EU stage, Barroso had been Portugal’s prime minister for barely two years when his fellow leaders chose him in June to succeed Romano Prodi of Italy, whose term as European Commission president expires at the end of October.

Since his 22 July confirmation by the European Parliament, Barroso has been meeting with the 24 commissioners selected by EU countries to join him in Brussels, as well as fielding calls from capitals lobbying for top spots.

Each EU country nominates one commissioner, and Barroso’s team will have an unusually high number of heavy-hitters: three ex-prime ministers, five foreign ministers and three finance ministers.

After confirmation hearings in the European Parliament, the new commission starts its five-year term on 1 November. It will be the first with 25 members, marking the entry of 10 new countries to the EU last May.