Take Spain’s Teresa Ribera, tasked with handling climate ― but dumped together with competitiveness. Democracy Commissioner Henna Virkkunen is also overseeing “tech sovereignty,” a code word for reviving Europe’s fading technology sector. Maroš Šefčovič is commissioner for both trade and transparency, and so on. 

The message is clear: Valdis Dombrovskis, who will be Europe’s economic chief, may formally have that role but economic responsibilities will be cast far and wide. 

“The titles that we have seen from the different portfolios are kind of worrying,” said Isabelle Barthes, deputy general secretary of the IndustriAll European Trade Union. Romania’s Roxana Mînzatu is in charge of “people, skills and preparedness.” “Preparedness instead of employment? And social rights?” asked Barthes, referring to the previous title attached to the role.   

Noneconomic priorities are slipping down the agenda. After the pandemic, officials working in health policy hoped that their field would get a boost. But with the appointment of Hungary’s Olivér Várhelyi to the health portfolio — a politician who is close to the Russia-friendly Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and outside the EU fold — it’s clear that that won’t be the case.

The German problem

And yet. Can a reshuffle of the Commission — the EU’s executive arm that can propose legislation but doesn’t have a lot of the powers that still rest with national governments — really bring about the kind of boost Europe needs?

The headwinds are fierce. The German economy, the EU’s largest, didn’t grow at all in 2023, and is set to shrink this year. It’s got the potential to drag the whole Continent down with it.