Margrethe Vestager, the European Commissioner for Competition, has been nominated to a second five-year term and will also oversee the EU's digital policy. Photo: Johannes Jansson/norden.org

Margrethe Vestager, who as the enforcer of competition policy for the EU has taken on such companies as Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Qualcomm, will remain in charge of EU competition policy for another five years and assume the additional role of the EU's chief of digital policy, Ursula von der Leyen, the incoming president of the European Commission, announced on Tuesday.

In a surprise move, von der Leyen, a former defence minister of Germany, proposed giving Vestager the competition portfolio for a second term. In that role, she looks to end anti-competitive behaviour, vets mergers and breaks up cartels.

Normally, European commissioners only have the competition mandate for one five-year term. This is to avoid having the commissioner, who is usually a former politician, being unduly influenced by the staff of the competition department.

The move is likely to raise eyebrows in the U.S., where President Donald Trump has been critical of the actions she has taken against large tech companies. During her time as competition chief, Vestager has imposed record fines on Google and has demanded that the Irish government seize back-taxes of $15.4 billion from Apple.

Vestager, a former finance minister of Denmark for the liberal party, has held the competition position since 2014.

In addition to holding on to her position overseeing competition policy, Vestager will also lead the EU's digital policy.

Vestager's nomination, along with that of the other 26 members of the commission, still must be approved by members of the European Parliament. If she is approved, she will take office on November 1 along with the other nominees.

Asked why she had taken the unusual step of giving Vestager the competition portfolio for a second term, von der Leyen said: "The only aspect that matters in assigning [portfolios] is quality and excellence. Margrethe Vestager has done an outstanding job as competition commissioner."

Von der Leyen said that many competition issues were linked to the digital economy, so expanding Vestager's role to include the digital sector "is a perfect combination".

The decision to keep Vestager as the competition chief for a second term is also being seen as a sign that von der Leyen will resist attempts from France and Germany to exert increasing political influence over competition policy.

Last year, Germany's economy minister Peter Altmaier and France's finance minister Bruno Le Maire co-authored a paper calling for national capitals to have the final say over major merger decisions.

The plan met with strong opposition but France and Germany continue to argue that the economic threat from China means that EU competition policy should take into account the need to create European champions.

Resisting political interference in competition decisions has been one of Vestager's main achievements during the last five years.

Alec Burnside, a partner in Dechert's Brussels office, says Vestager faced a "veritable storm" from Paris and Berlin over her decision to block a merger between two train companies –  Germany's Siemens and France's Alstom. The Commission blocked the merger in February of this year. "She's been remarkably resilient," Burnside says.

He added that Vestager has "strengthened" the Commission's reputation for competition enforcement and put the department "back on a straight course".

Vestager has also forced Google to change how it presents search results, so that it no longer discriminates against competitors.

The competition commissioner is in charge of a department of more than 500 officials, roughly half of whom work on antitrust and M&A cases.

In her position as executive vice-president for digital issues, Vestager will work closely with Mariya Gabriel, the commissioner from Bulgaria responsible for innovation and youth.

Von der Leyen also nominated Phil Hogan, the current commissioner for agriculture, to lead the EU's trade policy. Hogan, a former government minister from Ireland, will be in charge of dealing with the U.S. on trade disputes and will negotiate the U.K.'s post-Brexit trade deal with the EU.

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