Budgeting for a new lifestyle
His annual salary for each of the five years he is expected to serve in the commission will be €217,279.68 - not a lot more than his current ministerial allowance.
The biggest single allowance he will get is €32,591.94 towards the cost of renting a house. This should allow him to live in a nice period house in a good district of Brussels, but at less than €3,000 a month is unlikely to come with room for a pony.
Moving can be an expensive business and he may want to bring his own furniture with him, especially as most rented property in Brussels comes unfurnished. The allowance for this is €36,213.28 - once off.
Running even a modest establishment costs money and he will receive an annual allowance of €3,259.19 to help with this.
The job comes with an allowance for a spouse - a mere €1,792.68 a year. But that should be enough to buy a little black designer number for Noeleen to wear to the numerous cocktail parties to which Commissioners are invited.
Getting around will not be a problem and he will be able to swap his ministerial Mercedes for a car of his choice. Current Irish Commissioner David Byrne choose a Mercedes S class but others use Volvos and BMWs while the current Italian Commission President Romano Prodi choose a Lancia Thesis.
He will also have two drivers round-the-clock on a week-on, week-off basis.
However, most of his travel will not be on roads but in the air, as he will find himself flying to the corners of the enlarged EU most weeks, delivering speeches and meeting ministers.
He will not be flying first class - it will be business class on long-haul flights - unless he wants to use up all his annual travel allowance in weeks.
Mr McCreevy will be allowed to claim a maximum of €11,702 in expenses but must produce receipts and have a good reason for incurring the costs.
The job is not particularly family-friendly as the official hours are 9 am to 7pm at least five days a week, plus weekend work and reading to do after hours.
He will receive €260.96 a month for each dependent child and €221.50 monthly towards their school fees, or €443 per month if they are educated outside Belgium.
He will also have to pay tax at levels up to 45%.
One of the big perks of the job is the pension he can look forward to after his five years. This will be added to his pensions for his work as both a deputy and a minister.
To help him with the job he will have a Cabinet of six people, usually drawn from experienced commission officials or Irish people with experience of working for other commissioners.
