Eastern commissioners compete for energy, enlargement [de]
Four East European commissioners are finding themselves in competition after their countries expressed preferences for the energy and enlargement portfolios in the next European Commission.
Background
The distribution of portfolios is the prerogative of the European Commission president. However, EU member states often state their preferences, trying to "mark their territory" or influence his decision-making.
Commissioners do not represent their countries. However, both in Eastern and Western Europe, the post continues to be seen as the most senior national position in the EU executive.
The coveted portfolios cover policy areas in which they apparently hope to leverage their countries' experience, but also to alleviate difficulties.
The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Latvia have signalled their interest in the enlargement portfolio, currently held by Finland's Olli Rehn.
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria said they would be happy to land the energy portfolio, currently held by Latvia's Andris Piebalgs.
Bulgaria has also expressed interest in regional policy, an area of interest to another East European country – Hungary.
Štefan Füle, the Czech foreign minister who was recently nominated to Brussels, has declared several times that the enlargement portfolio is the one he desires most (he has also mentioned others including energy, transport and regional development).
However, he refused to comment on every aspect of discussions with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and other countries, as he did not want to influence the result, EurActiv Czech Republic reported from Prague.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov has made a number of often contradictory statements over the last two months, singling out different preferences for Commissioner-designate Roumiana Jeleva, who is currently the country's foreign minister.
Among those preferences, the most frequently cited are energy and enlargement, but the regional policy and science portfolios have also been mentioned (EurActiv 18/09/09).
Too many czars?
Latvian Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, who until now has held the energy portfolio, would prefer to be in charge of enlargement, various sources said. But his colleague Maroš Šefčovič, Slovakia's current commissioner in charge of education, training, culture and youth, also wants the enlargement portfolio, EurActiv Slovakia reports.
According to diplomatic sources, Slovakia designated Šefčovič – who until recently was the country's ambassador to the EU - as commissioner precisely because his profile fitted with the job description of enlargement commissioner.
Sources told EurActiv that East Europeans wanted to sell to their national audiences the image of having achieved the status of "a czar speaking to the Kremlin," apparently disregarding the fact that energy policies largely remain within the national domain, a situation which Moscow has exploited skillfully.
Nuclear threat at work?
In addition, the fact that the two countries most severely hit by the January gas crisis – Bulgaria and Slovakia – have expressed preferences for the energy portfolio may appear as a paradox. Recently, Bulgaria's Jeleva stated that her country feared a renewed winter gas crisis (EurActiv 18/11/09).
Both Bulgaria and Slovakia raised eyebrows in EU circles by threatening to re-start units of their nuclear power plants, the closure of which was one of the conditions of the country's EU accession (EurActiv 07/01/09 and 12/01/09). Some are now wondering whether it would be wise to award one of these countries with the energy portfolio.
As for the enlargement portfolio, it is assumed that East European countries are hoping to use it to raise their profile in the Western Balkans and Turkey. However, major decisions concerning enlargement will continue to come from Berlin and Paris, not from the Commission's Berlaymont building, experts told this website.
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