Portfolio attributions puzzle Eastern EU countries
Public opinion and politicians alike are questioning the weight and importance of the portfolios attributed to their national commissioners, a roundup by EurActiv's network in Eastern Europe reveals.
Background
Last Friday (27 November), European Commission President José Manuel Barroso announced the portfolio responsibilities for the next EU executive. According to analysts, all the top portfolios went to Westerners: Olli Rehn (Finland) obtained economic and monetary affairs, and is also in charge of the EU's 2020 strategy, Michel Barnier (France) got internal market and services, Joaquín Almunia (Spain) received competition and a vice-presidency of the Commission, Karel de Gucht (Belgium) obtained trade, and Antonio Tajani (Italy), also a vice-president, was given industry and entrepreneurship.
Eastern European countries obtained the following portfolios:
- László ANDOR (Hungary): Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion.
- Dacian CIOLOS (Romania): Agriculture and Rural Development.
- Štefan FÜLE (Czech Republic): Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy.
- Rumiana JELEVA (Bulgaria): International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response.
- Siim KALLAS (Estonia): Transport. Vice-President of the Commission.
- Janusz LEWANDOWSKI (Poland): Budget and Financial Programming.
- Andris PIEBALGS (Latvia): Development.
- Janez POTOČNIK (Slovenia): Environment.
- Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ (Slovakia): Vice-President of the Commission for Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration.
- Algirdas ŠEMETA (Lithuania): Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-Fraud.
Several Eastern European countries had expressed a desire to obtain the portfolios of enlargement (which went to the Czech Republic) and energy (which went to Germany's Günter Oettinger), another roundup article from the EurActiv network revealed recently.
'Weightless role' for Hungary
In Hungary, opposition centre-right party Fidesz stated that the country's commissioner, László Andor - who obtained the employment, social affairs and inclusion portfolio - had received a "weightless" role.
The reality contradicts completely official government predictions that Andor would become a "heavyweight" player, claimed Fidesz. According to polls, the centre-right opposition could receive around two thirds of the vote in next spring's elections.
For his part, Andor said he was happy with the decision, claiming employment, social affairs and inclusion was one of the portfolios he had been expecting to receive.
The ruling socialists also said that they were happy with the portfolio attribution. Csaba Tabajdi, leader of the Hungarian Socialist MEPs, praised the "deep macroeconomic knowledge" of Andor and said the portfolio is of "primary importance".
"The future Hungarian commissioner will play a key role in fighting the serious social consequences of the current economic crisis, in decreasing unemployment and in alleviating wealth differences in European society," MEP Kinga Göncz (S&D, Hungary) said in a statement.
'Business' or 'economy' seat for Slovakia?
In Slovakia, national politicians were puzzled by the portfolio attributed to Slovakia, since not everyone knew what exactly the portfolio of inter-institutional relations encompasses.
Critics of Prime Minister Robert Fico observed that he had proven unable to secure the energy or transport portfolio for the country's commissioner, Maroš Ševčovič, and that in the end he had received "only an administrative" job.
Indeed, Fico had in recent moths claimed that energy portfolio was his country's "highest priority". On Friday, however, he announced that Barroso had found for Šefčovič "something even better" than energy.
"We are very surprised, because Mr. Barroso has chosen Mr. Šefčovič to be his most important vice-president," Fico said. He added that Šefčovič had managed to get into the "kitchen" of the European Commission, apparently considering this room to be the most important in the house.
"It is like when you have the economy flight ticket and hope to get a window seat, and in the end they sit you in business class," said Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák.
Polish 'chief of accountants'
In Poland, the choice of Janusz Lewandowski for the post of budget commissioner is seen differently depending on political colour.
"Janusz will be not an European accountant, but the chief of all accountants in the Commission. Every change in the budget will require his improvement. He has real influence on the money and the functioning of the Union," Polish MEP Krzysztof Lisek (European People's Party; EPP) argued in the daily 'Polska the Times'.
According to representatives of Law and Justice (PiS), the biggest opposition party, Lewandowski's nomination was not the best decision for Poland.
"The Polish government didn't have an ambitious goal and it claims now to have achieved that," said another MEP, Paweł Kowal (European Conservatives and Reformists; ECR).
Lewandowski himself was optimistic. In an interview for 'Polska the Times' he said recently: "I know how to integrate the different parts of Europe in the financial sense and this will be my task". The Polish commissioner, a former MEP, also expressed satisfaction that the Lisbon Treaty gives MEPs the "last word" in budget discussions.
Is the Romanian commissioner 'French'?
In Romania, the appointment of Dacian Cioloş as future commissioner for agriculture and rural development came in the midst of political turmoil heightened by the presidential elections, the run-off of which take place on 6 December (EurActiv 24/11/09).
The Romanian media widely quoted Western publications which said that Cioloş was in fact "the second French commissioner," as he had studied and lived in France for a long time and was backed by France for the job.
President Traian Basescu, who is running for re-election, tried to capitalise on Cioloş's appointment. He organised a press conference at the presidential palace and had Cioloş speak right after him. He declared that the nomination "is an extremely important thing for Romania, as the Common Agricultural Policy is one of the pillars of the EU [...] The portfolio is extremely important considering the size of the allocated budget but especially if we consider the large number of people involved in agriculture and food industry-related activities," Basescu said.
Cioloş spoke briefly immediately after Basescu, describing his appointment as "one of the results of the chance that Romania had in joining the EU". He said he would try to contribute to the CAP and the European construction.
Enlargement lost importance for Prague?
Czech Commissioner Stefan Fuele obtained the coveted enlargement portfolio, in which Slovakia, Bulgaria and Latvia had expressed an interest (EurActiv 25/11/09).
ODS, the centre-right party of former Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, said that while it sees the enlargement portfolio as more important than that of multilingualism or social affairs [the portfolio currently held by Czech Vladimír Špidla], the Czech Republic could harbour greater ambitions.
However, according to observers, the statement has to be interpreted mainly as an attack to the Social-democrats, for having secured a 'less important' portfolio for Špidla five years ago.
The Socialist opposition hit back.
"The nomination of Füle is the second-best choice," said socialist leader Jiří Paroubek, who had supported another term for current Commissioner Vladimír Špidla. Again, according to insiders of the Czech political scene, his message was directed to the home audience, reading: "we were unable to push trough our candidate, but we did our best".
The Czech press also questioned the value of such an assignment "at a time when the European Union in fact is not going to enlarge".
Strictly speaking, two countries are to join the EU: Iceland and Croatia. However, their entry is taken for granted as they are prepared for it, writes Martin Komarek, a columnist in the daily Mlada Fronta.
Komarek said some see the portfolio attribution as "punishment for the fact that the Czech left-wing toppled the government halfway through the Czech EU Presidency in the spring". Another view expressed is that Füle is "not a really influential personality in politics" and was given a modest portfolio to match.
However, other media praise the attribution of the enlargement portfolio to the Czechs. They also welcomed the widening of the portfolio to include the European Neighbourhood Policy, as the Eastern Partnership initiative was one of the top priorities for the Czech EU Presidency.
'Slap in the face' for Bulgaria
The country where the national commissioner portfolio attribution caused the biggest storm is undoubtedly Bulgaria. As Rumiana Jeleva was made responsible for humanitarian aid and crisis response, centre-left opposition leader Sergei Stanishev said the decision represented "a slap in the face" and the first defeat for the new centre-right government in its dealings with Brussels, according to Dnevnik, EurActiv's partner in Bulgaria.
Disappointment over the modest portfolio came against the background of previous high-profile statements from Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, who had forecast that Jeleva would be assigned the energy, enlargement or regional policy portfolios.
For her part, Jeleva said her portfolio was "satisfactory" as it carried "great political importance".
Some media and commentators jeered at Borissov, a fireman by training, saying that it was only fair that the commissioner he had designated would be responsible for handling disasters and forest fires.
Former Bulgarian Commissioner Meglena Kuneva refused to comment on the portfolio attributed to her successor, but wished her luck.
Positions
Hungarian Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai described the appointment of Hungary's EU Commissioner László Andor to the post of commissioner for employment, social affairs and inclusion as "major recognition" for Hungary.
"Social development represents one of the greatest challenges in the new member states," Bajnai said. He noted that raising the social and living conditions of the Roma population is another key issue for the region.
Speaking to the Realitatea TV station, Romanian Commissioner-designate Dacian Cioloş commented on criticism from the international press that he would serve the interests of Paris.
Cioloş said he would serve the interest of all the European Union member states. As for Romanian interests, he said, they will be defended in the Council by the country's agriculture minister.
Cioloş said the difficult situation facing Romanian agriculture is due to the fact that in the past 20 years, the country had only carried out "half reforms". He made it clear that Romania also has difficulty absorbing European funds due to lack of monies from the budget for co-financing projects.
The proposed Barroso II Commission does not suggest a revolution in its structure but speaks clearly on its new priorities, Bulgarian Socialist MEP Ivailo Kalfin (S&D) told EurActiv.
"Besides the High Representative for external relations - a position that is compulsory under the Lisbon Treaty - Mr Barroso demonstrates a special attention to policies, related to climate change, research and innovations and fundamental rights. The information society is replaced by the digital agenda portfolio, an appellation suggesting that the liberal approach vis-à-vis the advancement of the Internet will be more cautious, at least with more interventionist policies," Kalfin stated.
"The merging of enlargement with neighbourhood policy unfortunately speaks for the decreased interest in the former," the Bulgarian MEP further comments.
"Multilingualism and consumer protection go back to where they came from when new positions had to be invented for Bulgaria and Romania. I frankly regret the latter, because [Meglena] Kuneva [consumer protection commissioner in the first Barroso Commission] raised the profile of the European Commission and brought its policies closer to the citizens," Kalfin said.
"The big question mark arises from this new portfolio of international cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response. It looks like combining left-overs from other portfolios and to a very large extent supplements policies like external relations, development aid, enlargement and neighbourhood policies, home affairs, etc.," Kalfin concluded.
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