Joaquín Almunia
European Commissioner for Competition
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 February 2010
President	José Manuel Barroso
Preceded by	Neelie Kroes
European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs
In office 24 April 2004 – 9 February 2010 Serving with Siim Kallas
President	Romano Prodi José Manuel Barroso
Preceded by	Pedro Solbes
Succeeded by	Olli Rehn
Leader of the Opposition
In office 14 May 1999 – 1 July 2000
Prime Minister	José María Aznar
Preceded by	Josep Borrell
Succeeded by	José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
In office 22 June 1997 – 24 April 1998
Prime Minister	José María Aznar
Preceded by	Felipe González
Succeeded by	Josep Borrell
Minister of Public Administrations
In office 26 July 1986 – 12 March 1991
Prime Minister	Felipe González
Preceded by	Félix Pons Irazazábal
Succeeded by	Juan Manuel Eguiagaray Ucelay
Minister of Employment
In office 1 December 1982 – 26 July 1986
Prime Minister	Felipe González
Preceded by	Santiago Rodríguez Miranda
Succeeded by	Manuel Chaves González
Personal details
Born	(1948-06-17) 17 June 1948 (age 64) Bilbao, Spain
Political party	Socialist Workers' Party
Alma mater	University of Deusto Practical School for Advanced Studies Harvard University

Joaquín Almunia Amann (born 17 June 1948) is a Spaniard politician and prominent member of the European Commission, currently responsible for Competition under the second mandate of President Barroso. He was previously responsible for Economic and Monetary Affairs in Barroso's previous mandate. The president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, had announced on 27 November 2009 that Almunia would be a Vice-President and the responsible for Competition in the second college of the Barroso Commission.^[1]

Born in Bilbao, he is married and has two children. He graduated in Law and Economics at the University of Deusto, and completed follow-up studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris and the “Senior managers in Government” program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He was an associate lecturer on Employment and Social Security Law at the University of Alcalá de Henares.

Almunia was chief economist of the Unión General de Trabajadores, the Spanish trade union affiliated to the Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), from 1976 to 1979. He was economist at the Council Bureau of the Spaniard Chambers of Commerce in Brussels from 1972 to 1975.

Almunia was a PSOE Member of the Cortes Generales from 1979 to 2004, representing Madrid. He was Minister of Employment and Social Security from 1982 to 1986 and Minister of Public Administration from 1986 to 1991, and was PSOE spokesperson from 1994 to 1997. Upon the resignation of Felipe González after being defeated in the 1996 elections, Almunia became the party leader from 1997 to 2000. In 2000, he was the PSOE candidate for Prime Minister, and the party was again defeated by incumbent Prime Minister, José María Aznar. The PSOE suffered its worst result in a General Election since the Transition times and Almunia resigned as party leader.

Almunia was director of the research program on Equality and redistribution of income at the Fundación Argentaria from 1991 to 1994. In 2002, he founded and was director of the progressive think tank Laboratorio de Alternativas.

He first joined the Prodi Commission on 26 April 2004 as a successor to Pedro Solbes (who had resigned to join the new Zapatero Government) and was re-appointed by Barroso in November 2004.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Joaquin Almunia, Official Media Gallery

v t e Barroso Commission I (2004–2009) Joaquín Almunia · Catherine Ashton6 · José Manuel Barroso1 · Jacques Barrot2 · Joe Borg · Karel De Gucht9 · Stavros Dimas · Benita Ferrero-Waldner · Ján Figeľ10 · Franco Frattini2, 5 · Mariann Fischer Boel · Dalia Grybauskaitė7 · Danuta Hübner8 · Siim Kallas2 · László Kovács · Neelie Kroes · Meglena Kuneva3 · Markos Kyprianou4 · Peter Mandelson6 · Charlie McCreevy · Louis Michel9 · Leonard Orban3 · Andris Piebalgs · Janez Potočnik · Viviane Reding · Olli Rehn · Paweł Samecki8 · Maroš Šefčovič10 · Algirdas Šemeta7 · Vladimír Špidla · Antonio Tajani2, 5 · Androulla Vassiliou4 · Günter Verheugen2 · Margot Wallström2 1 = President. 2 = Vice President. 3 = Served from 1 January 2007. 4 = Vassiliou replaced Kyprianou on 3 March 2008. 5 = Tajani replaced Frattini on 18 June 2008. 6 = Ashton replaced Mandelson on 3 October 2008. 7 = Šemeta replaced Grybauskaitė on 1 July 2009. 8 = Samecki replaced Hübner on 4 July 2009. 9 = De Gucht replaced Michel on 17 July 2009. 10 = Šefčovič replaced Figeľ on 1 October 2009.

v t e Barroso Commission II (since 2010) Joaquín Almunia2 · László Andor · Catherine Ashton2 · Michel Barnier · José Manuel Barroso1 · Dacian Cioloş · John Dalli · Maria Damanaki · Štefan Füle · Máire Geoghegan-Quinn · Kristalina Georgieva · Karel De Gucht · Johannes Hahn · Connie Hedegaard · Siim Kallas2 · Neelie Kroes2 · Janusz Lewandowski · Cecilia Malmström · Günther Oettinger · Andris Piebalgs · Janez Potočnik · Viviane Reding2 · Olli Rehn · Antonio Tajani2 · Androulla Vassiliou · Maroš Šefčovič2 · Algirdas Šemeta 1 = President. 2 = Vice President.

v t e European Commissioners for Competition von der Groeben • Sassen • Borschette • Vouel • Andriessen • Sutherland • Brittan • Van Miert • Monti • Kroes • Almunia

Edward Scicluna (b. October 12, 1946 in Naxxar, Malta) is an economist and a Member of the European Parliament elected on behalf of the Maltese Labour Party and sitting with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.

Scicluna holds a Diploma in social studies from the University of Oxford (1972) and degrees in economics from the University of Malta (BA, 1975) and the University of Toronto (MA, 1976 and PhD, 1982).^[1] Between 1981 and 1990 he was professor and head of the Department of Economics at the University of Malta where he still holds a lectureship post.

He has held a number of posts in the public and private sector. He served as Chairman of the Malta Council of Economic and Social Development (MCESD) (1999–2003) and of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) (1997–99), an Electoral Commissioner (1987–93), a Director of the Central Bank of Malta (1996–2003) and a member of Malta's National Euro Change-over Committee (NECC) (2005–2008). He was often selected by the Malta Broadcasting Authority to chair broadcast political debates. In the private sector he was Chairman of the HSBC Malta Bond Fund (since 2002) and of CWG plc and director of MIB Ltd.

Internationally he served on the Council of Europe's Development Bank Auditing Committee (1997–2000) and carried out consultancy and advisory work for the European Commission (particularly on the single currency), UNESCO, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) (1987–97), the IMF delegation, the governments of Albania, Croatia, Libya and Turkey and a number of credit rating agencies.

Scicluna joined the Labour Party in 2009 and successfully stood on the Party ticket in the European Parliament election held in Malta later that year. He has since been appointed Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, member of the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and substitute member on the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and Delegation for relations with the countries of Southeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).^[2]

Personal life[link]

He is married to Astrid Bartoli. They have two children Mark and Katya.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website of Edward Scicluna: www.edwardscicluna.com