Europe’s antitrust chief Neelie Kroes, who has dunned two of America’s largest and most influential companies, both paeans to capitalism, a small fortune during her term in office, is going to be replaced. She was a candidate for reappointment to what is considered a great portfolio but didn’t get the job again.

Described as “extraordinary, prickly, focused, like hugging barbed wire,” she came to power five years ago on a thin private-sector resume and has been over-compensating ever since for the fear that she would be seen as weak.

She is supposed to step down at the end of the year in favor of the low-profile Spanish socialist political appointee Joaquin Almunia, 61, currently Europe’s economic affairs commissioner and unsuccessful candidate for prime minister of Spain back in 2000.

Apparently still left up in the air is what the European Commission means to do about the proposed Oracle-Sun merger. Its current position could create a historic Euro-American divide.

The EC under Kroes is opposing the $7.4 billion merger over the $25 million-a-year Sun property MySQL. eWeek says Kroes will hang around as a consultant and nothing much should change with Almunia’s apotheosis despite Oracle’s stalwart resolve not to spin the entity off.

His prospective appointment still has to be okayed by the European Parliament.

Kroes was expected to leave Brussels entirely but will now become head of the European Union’s “digital agenda.” The job, apparently a downgrade, will give her oversight of the European Network and Information Security Agenda (Enisa) and the Information Society Directorate General, which puts her in position