And she also ran to become the chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority in 2021, but lost out in a distant third place to current chair Verena Ross.
If her popularity among the public is mixed, she’ll likely be more of a hit with the civil servants leading work on financial services regulation. When the Troika was dealing with Portugal, she worked with the Commission’s John Berrigan, now the top civil servant in the financial services department, and the two are said to have a good relationship. Berrigan told POLITICO on Tuesday that Albuquerque is “very good” but said they had not yet spoken in her new capacity as commissioner-designate.
Decade-old slight
She was widely expected to be nominated as Portugal’s commissioner in 2014, but after then-Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker informed Lisbon the country was not in line for a major portfolio, Carlos Moedas was sent instead. Her nomination this time around was seen as center-right Prime Minister Luís Montenegro’s way of rectifying the slight committed 10 years ago.
The Portuguese commissioner-designate will inherit a role which has evolved significantly in the last five years.
She will oversee work on the EU’s single market for investment, alternately branded the Capital Markets Union or Savings and Investment Union.
It is a decade-old project that has risen to prominence recently as the EU searches for growth to catch up to the U.S. and China, and funding for the green and digital transitions and defense.