The significance of the underlying arrangements cannot be overstated at a time when Europe’s economy is struggling and governments are as divided as ever over whether the situation calls for further investment or balancing the books.

Job titles don’t mean much

Von der Leyen bestowed the grandiose title “executive vice president” — in the past given to commissioners who oversaw several portfolios — to Spain’s Teresa Ribera, France’s Stéphane Séjourné and Italy’s Raffaele Fitto.

They’ve also been assigned Orwellian-sounding missions such as a “Clean, Just and Competitive Transition” (Ribera), “Prosperity and Industrial Strategy” (Séjourné), and “Cohesion and Reforms” (Fitto).

But ultimately, officials said, they’ll be forced to rely on their supposed subordinates — the commissioners in charge of specific files — to give shape to those fuzzy slogans.

“You have to look at the DGs [Directorates-General, a Brussels version of national ministries], all the rest is simply titles,” said one EU diplomat. “And if you look at who’s in charge of the DGs, it’s all the trusted men of von der Leyen.” 

Or as a second EU diplomat put it: The commissioners “will be the guard dogs of their bosses [the executive vice presidents].”