Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) -- European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, a Spanish Socialist known for tackling countries’ deficits, will be antitrust chief in the next European Commission, succeeding Neelie Kroes.

As competition commissioner, Almunia, 61, will be responsible for ensuring that companies don’t abuse market positions or unlawfully collude to fix prices. He will also rule on mergers and acquisitions in the 27-nation bloc.

“He’s a social democrat, but I think he’s convinced of the market economy,” said Michel Petite, former head of the commission’s legal service and an adviser at the Clifford Chance LLP law firm in Paris. “He’s also a tough person, and never hesitated to criticize deficits and to put large countries under the grill.”

Almunia will take over the role from the Netherlands’ Kroes, 68, who gained a reputation for pursuing large industries and companies including Microsoft Corp. for alleged antitrust violations. Kroes was named telecommunications commissioner.

Almunia “has shown his deep commitment to Europe,” Commission President Jose Barroso said at a press conference today. “It’s an important role, very topical, and it’s a recognition of his excellent work in the past few years.”

Petite said Almunia is likely to be more “reflective” compared to Kroes’s “instinctive” approach to competitive cases.

‘Wise Man’

“He was the wise man in the last commission on whom Barroso would rely,” Petite said. “Barroso’s confidence in him is very high.”

Charles Grant, director of the London-based research group Centre for European Reform, said Almunia is a “very intelligent man” who “gets on with people.”

“He’s also somebody who understands the importance of competition policy and free markets,” Grant said.

As monetary-affairs commissioner, Almunia steered the mostly eastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004 toward adopting the euro. Slovenia switched to the single currency in 2007 and Slovakia joined this year.

Almunia’s move to the commission in 2004 revived a political career that had stalled when he led the Socialists to defeat against Spain’s conservative prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, in elections in 2000.

Almunia, who was born in Bilbao on June 17, 1948, started his career as chief economist for a Spanish trade union, entering Parliament in 1979. He studied economics in Spain, Paris and at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

-- With assistance from Stephanie Bodoni in Brussels and Ben Moshinsky in London. Editors: Jeff St.Onge, Kristen Hallam

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Newman in Brussels at Mnewman6@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 27, 2009 10:33 EST