Brussels, 17/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 17 July, the new president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, met UK Prime Minister David Cameron the day after an extraordinary summit - a summit which was not very conclusive on the appointment of the next president of the European Council or on the nomination of the next high representative of foreign affairs. Little has filtered through from Juncker's meeting with Cameron - a meeting focusing on the portfolio that the UK wants to obtain within the college of commissioners after appointing Jonathan Hill as its commissioner. The meeting was also due to deal with the renationalisation of competences that is requested by London. Having proposed Cameron a “fair deal” that consists of taking London's concerns into account if, in return, the UK does not block EU developments (including those of the eurozone), Juncker has complained in recent weeks that he has not received the exact list of British wishes.
Cameron was due to meet Juncker with the intention of negotiating an important portfolio for Hill “in the area of the economy”, British media have reported. London's current interest is reportedly for trade, digital, the internal market, or energy. However, these ambitions will need to be combined with the architecture that Juncker intends to draw up, as he is anxious to give shape to the fairly old idea of clusters in the Commission. A vice-president of the Commission could thus very well coordinate - without steering - a large portfolio focusing on the economy, with several commissioners in charge of sectoral policies, Juncker's entourage stated on Thursday 16 July. A college with substitute commissioners is also possible. At this stage, Juncker plans to finalise his college at the end of July or beginning of August - even if this formation could be delayed due to the issue of gender equality and because of the failure of the 28 EU member states on 16 July to find a successor to High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, who is also a vice-president of the Commission. (SP)