Margrethe Vestager may not have gained the top spot in this year's Global tax 50, but she is still a force to be reckoned with. 2020 will see Vestager take on much more than state aid cases.
Vestager has not just retained her position as the EU's competition commissioner under Ursula von der Leyen's leadership, but she also has been appointed vice president alongside Frans Timmermans and Valdis Dombrovskis. The Danish liberal is now in charge of how the EU will regulate its digital single market.
"Europeans deserve an economy where companies compete to serve customers better not just to get bigger subsidies from governments," says Vestager.
"We need to make sure that platform workers enjoy fair conditions. And we also need to make sure that digital companies pay their fair share of taxes," she says.
"We want these taxation rules to be based on global agreements. But if that is not possible by the end of 2020 we are prepared to act," she adds.
The EU's trustbuster-in-chief has not been afraid to slap penalties on Apple and Google, leading to her being called "the tax lady" by US President Donald Trump and Silicon Valley's "tormentor-in-chief" by American media outlet Politico.
The Apple state aid case continues to rumble on, with the iPhone maker defending its tax arrangements in Ireland. These cases may have given her a 'tough' reputation among US businesses, but they have also made her much more influential in the European Commission.
State aid investigations have targeted European corporations like Fiat and IKEA, as well as a range of schemes in Belgium, Luxembourg and the UK. Former President Jean-Claude Juncker has always insisted the Commission "will never play favourites".
Vestager may be the face of EU state aid cases, but she actually inherited the cases and the regulatory framework from her predecessors. What is different now is that Vestager may be in a position to play the architect as new rules are created.
"My pledge is not to make Europe more like China. Or more like America," she says. "My pledge is to help make Europe more like herself."
New role, new powers
As the Von der Leyen administration has moved to redefine old roles, Vestager has been granted new powers to help shape the legislative agenda and enforce standards. The European Commission has never had three vice presidents, let alone three with substantial powers.
Observers will wonder if Vestager and Timmermans will clash because both are eager to take the lead on EU climate policy, for example. The EU competition chief will have to balance her agenda against what others want to achieve.
"I have no intention of even trying to do all the work myself," said Vestager. "The task is to make a sufficiently strong team among commissioners to make sure we can make things happen."
The European Commission may be considering merging competition and data protection into one portfolio and granting vast regulatory powers to this new role. This is a break with convention because it means the vice presidents can play a much greater role in EU politics.
Of course, Vestager's appointment was a political decision – it wasn't just about Vestager's prominent role as state aid enforcer. President Ursula von der Leyen wanted to make sure the biggest parties were all represented in the new Commission.
The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) made its bid to make Vestager the next EC president in the 2019 European Parliament elections. The conservative European People's Party (EPP), and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), once again came out on top.
Yet, the ALDE coalition made significant gains and could not be ignored. The liberal coalition expanded its vote, while the EPP and the S&D alliance saw their vote share drop. This may be what swung the decision to give Vestager two jobs.
Making Vestager vice president is no empty gesture. It may have been a consolation prize, in part, but it puts Vestager at the core of EU policymaking. The EU's most feared enforcer now appears to be in a perfect position to help shape the future of tax policy.
