Bulgarian and Romanian accession

Written by Andrew Duff MEP and published in ft.com on Thu 9th Nov 2006

The accession of Bulgaria and Romania on 1 January will see the size of the European Commission rise from 25 to 27 members. President Barroso has nominated Meglena Kuneva to be responsible for consumer protection, a portfolio stripped from Cypriot Commissioner Kyprianou. A lawyer, she is currently Bulgaria's Minister for European Affairs and was formerly a member of the Convention on the Future of Europe. The Romanian Commissioner-designate is Leonard Orban, an engineer, who was his country's chief accession negotiator. His portfolio will be 'multilingualism', until now a mysterious part of the cultural brief of Slovakian Commissioner Figel.

Both candidates have to run the gauntlet of auditions in the Parliament on 27-28 November, and a subsequent vote of assent. Since the stormy induction of the Barroso Commission in 2004, when the Parliament caused two Commissioners-designate to retire hurt and a third to switch portfolios, the approval procedure has been further tightened. The process, which will be 'open, fair and consistent', is designed to ensure 'full disclosure of all relevant information'. MEPs have established their right to seek any information (including financial interests) relevant to an evaluation of the candidates' general competence, European commitment and political independence, as well as to enquire into their communications skills and knowledge of specific portfolio. Fear of such robust Parliamentary scrutiny led to the withdrawal of Romania's first choice as Commissioner, a controversial Liberal called Varujan Vosganian.

The addition of these two newcomers raises the question, once again, about the size and shape of the Commission. There are certainly not 27 jobs of equal importance to go round -- or, indeed, of sufficient importance each to justify an annual salary of € 220,000.

The EU constitution was supposed to come into force on 1 November. Had it done so, the size of the Commission would correspond, as of 2014, to two thirds of the number of member states. The Treaty of Nice, however, under which the EU labours unless and until the constitution comes into force, says that as soon as there are 27 member states a procedure should be agreed to reduce the number of Commissioners according to a 'rotation system based on the principle of equality'. The European Council will have to confront this decision, which has to be unanimous, in time for the appointment of the next full Commission in 2009 -- during whose term of office Croatia is almost certain to join. Good luck to it.

One may regret that José Manuel Barroso is passing up the opportunity to effect a larger reshuffle of his team at the mid-way stage of its mandate. He has the power to promote talent and demote incompetence, and to adapt the structure of the college better to cater for either its expansion or reduction. To use this power would send a powerful signal to the other institutions about the Commission's autonomy and efficacy. To create teams led by, say, four vice-presidents in the fields of external relations, economic policy, internal market and justice and home affairs, would be one way of giving the college extra drive.

No doubt Mr Barroso's memory of his gruelling introduction to the European Parliament two years ago has cautioned him against making such radical changes. A reshuffled college would have had to be submitted to a vote of confidence by MEPs. Mr Barroso would have won that vote. To have avoided it altogether is a missed opportunity for the Commission to prepare itself for next year's renewed negotiations on the future of Europe and for the assumption of new duties once the constitution eventually comes into force.

Andrew Duff's 'Plan B: how to rescue the European Constitution' is available at www.notre-europe.eu