Photographs of EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen, who is also one of Barroso's deputies, bathing nude with his female cabinet director may go out for print.
German Focus magazine confirmed Thursday it has the scandalous photos but said it was still considering whether to print them.
According to the magazine, the photographs showed Verheugen with his cabinet chief Petra Erler on a nudist beach during a holiday they have admitted taking together in Lithuania this year.
The photographs are likely to raise questions about the conduct of Verheugen, who has said the holiday was a "purely private affair" and that his wife was informed of it.
A conservative German Euro MP, Herbert Reul, told Bild newspaper: "I find it unacceptable that an EU commissioner is running around a beach nude with a high-ranking colleague."
Photographs of Verheugen and Erler strolling hand-in-hand on their trip to Lithuania were first published in Germany in October.