Outgoing Italian Premier Romano Prodi has spoken out against plans to swap the European Commission posts of Italy and France.
Prodi said on Tuesday he was ''deeply disappointed'' that Italy faced losing its justice and security portfolio and receiving France's transport post instead.
The reshuffle follows the departure of Franco Frattini, who is expected to stand down as European Commissioner for Justice and Security in order to become foreign minister in the government being assembled by Italy's premier-elect Silvio Berlusconi.
European Commission President Jose' Manuel Barroso announced on Tuesday that should Frattini resign his place would be taken by France's Commissioner for Transport Jacques Barrot.
He said Italy's new commissioner would then take up Barrot's vacant transport portfolio.
The high-profile justice and security post entails responsibility over a range of important policy issues including immigration, asylum, borders, crime prevention and civil justice.
Barroso said in a statement that his decision was aimed at ''ensuring the continuity and effectiveness of the complicated and delicate work in the justice, liberty and security portfolio''.
He said Barrot had filled in for Frattini - who took unpaid leave from the commission before Italy's April 13-14 election - in an ''outstanding way''.
Prodi, himself a former European Commission president, complained that his government had not been consulted about the switch.
But EC spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said on Wednesday the decision was the EC chief's prerogative and consultations with national governments were not obligatory in such cases.
Frattini's post is considered one of the top jobs in the European Union executive body. However, the transport portfolio would give his successor a say on the handling of Italy's nearly bankrupt flag carrier Alitalia.
Observers said Barroso's decision could be part of a bid to defuse any possible polemics over Frattini's replacement and avoid a replay of 2004 when Italy's candidate for commissioner, Rocco Buttiglione, had to be dropped from the line-up because his staunchly Catholic views on homosexuality and marriage met with opposition from European lawmakers.
Frattini, who was Italy's foreign minister at the time, was subsequently drafted in to replace him.
Former Berlusconi spokesman and MEP Antonio Tajani has been tipped by the media as a likely substitute for Frattini.
Some MEPs have expressed concern that Tajani might share the incoming Italian government's tough views on immigration.
Centre-right chief Berlusconi has pledged a crackdown on illegal immigrants while his key ally, the Northern League, is frequently criticised as anti-immigrant.
Italy's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) said on Wednesday that the commission post switch represented a ''clear loss for our country''.
But MEPs with Berlusconi's Forza Italia party said there was ''nothing diminishing'' about the transport portfolio and argued that the switch was ''good news'' given Berlusconi's ambitious public works programme.
Barroso's commission will remain in office until the autumn of 2009.
