Jose Manuel Barroso should find out by the end of this week what raw materials he has been given to build his new European Commission, as national capitals submit the last of their nominations to serve on his 25-member executive team.

But already it is clear that the new Commission president is likely to end up with a list of names which is short of Brussels experience, lacking heavy-hitters and light on women.

Barroso says he wants prime ministers to send their best people to Brussels, but the experience of the last few days is a reminder that he must make do with what he is given.

Rocco Buttiglione, the new Italian commissioner, is being sent by Silvio Berlusconi mainly to help ease the raging conflict in his coalition.

That means Barroso must lose the services of Mario Monti, the experienced Italian competition commissioner, whose advice he values highly.

Vladimir Spidla, the former Czech prime minister, has been sent by Prague, also partly in response to domestic political pressure.

Then there is Peter Mandelson, the new British commissioner, whose skills as an administrator and political operator are matched by a capacity for self-destruction; he has twice been forced to resign from Tony Blair's cabinet.

One striking aspect of Barroso's new team is its lack of European Commission experience, with only three members of Romano Prodi's original administration staying on when their term expires on October 31.

While Prodi has been accused of weak leadership, there is a consensus that he has the strongest team of individual commissioners ever assembled in Brussels; Barroso's problem is that most are leaving.

They include Monti, Franz Fischler (Austria, agriculture), Frits Bolkestein (Netherlands, internal market), Chris Patten (Britain, external affairs), Pascal Lamy (France, trade) and Antonio Vitorino (Portugal, home affairs).

Of those remaining, Gunter Verheugen (Germany, enlargement) carries the most clout; the other two are Margot Wallstrom (Sweden, environment) and Viviane Reding (Luxembourg, culture).

With this exodus of experience, questions remain about whether the replacements being given to Barroso are of the same standard.

Good workers

Brussels Jose Manuel Barroso could find the quality he needs from among the new member states, says Heather Grabbe, of the Centre for European Reform.

"There are some very good people from central and eastern Europe, because a Commission job is a very prestigious post for them," she said.

Danuta Hubner of Poland is among those expected to get a good job. She will be favoured by Barroso because of his determination to have women in his team. That ambition may be thwarted unless there is a late flurry of female nominations in the next few days.

© Financial Times

By George Parker

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