EU:ITALY IS set to lose the heavy-weight EU justice and home affairs post following the likely departure from Brussels of Italian commissioner Franco Frattini to become foreign minister in Silvio Berlusconi's new government.
In a surprise move, European Commission president José Manuel Barroso has announced that any new Italian commissioner will take the transport post and that French commissioner Jacques Barrot will assume the justice job.
Mr Barroso said the reshuffle - the first in commission history - is "to fully ensure the coherence and effectiveness of the complex and sensitive work in the justice, liberty and security portfolio." But the move is being viewed in Brussels as a pre-emptive strike by Mr Barroso, who is keen to avoid any possible difficulty caused by a controversial Berlusconi nominee for the post.
In 2004, in an unprecedented move, MEPs rejected the whole of the new commission due to a commissioner designate suggested by Mr Berlusconi, who was also prime minister at the time.
The nominee, Rocco Buttiglione, managed to offend a great swathe of MEPs with his arch-conservative views on homosexuals and the role of women in society. Rome eventually replaced him with Franco Frattini, but only after Mr Barroso got politically burned.
This time round names that have been mentioned for the post include similarly conservative politicians.
But by giving Italy the lower key transport post - where the MEP hearing is unlikely to include questions on moral, societal or immigration issues - the political heat has been taken out of the discussion.
It has also allowed Mr Barroso to indulge in a little one-upmanship with Mr Berlusconi who has been dragging his feet about whether he will take Mr Frattini into his cabinet or not.