Timmermans: 'The toughest job I've ever had'

Frans Timmermans was by far the most popular politician in the Netherlands when he accepted to become first vice-president of the new Juncker commission in Brussels on 1 November last year.

But the transition from the cut-and-thrust of national politics to the peculiarities of the European Commission has not been as easy as expected.

"It has been very, very hard work. Harder than I anticipated", he admits, as the commission approaches the anniversary (7 February) of its first 100...