"We have now had the longest interregnum in the Union's history," Sir Julian Priestley, a veteran EU insider, told this website.
Indeed, after an EU institutional reform process that began at the 2001 Laeken summit and ended with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty last December, as well as a European Commission that experienced several months of uncertainty in a caretaker capacity, a backlog of duties awaits the Barroso II team.
Sir Julian, who was secretary-general of the European Parliament from 1997 to 2007, said it was "no-one's fault" if valuable time had been lost, but stressed that there was an urgent need to make up for it.
"The agenda is horrendously daunting - a new economic programme and growth strategy to take over from the Lisbon Agenda, with measures to encourage active labour market policies and competitiveness; encouraging the earliest possible return to financial stability in the member states; completing the internal market and pursuing the better regulation objectives; dealing with the Copenhagen fall-out; the next stage of the new regulatory framework for banks and financial services; reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, structural policies and the budget; and dealing with the next and very tricky stage of the enlargement process," Sir Julian said.
In parallel, he said, the EU executive was responsible for making the new Lisbon Treaty institutions work and repairing the public damage done to the Union's standing by ten years of delay and procrastination about Europe's institutional architecture.
Underperforming 'survivors'
Asked whether the new commissioners were up to the task, he said that Parliament confirmation hearings had awarded them a "bare" pass or "third class degree," according to British university qualifications.
"Most commissioners-designate seemed reluctant to give any clear idea about the sort of initiatives they would pursue," Priestley said.
The main merit of the hearings was in "weeding out the unsuitable," but they were not a "reliable guide for the future performance" of the "survivors," he stressed.
"With one or two exceptions, it is not apparent that the Barroso II Commission has many big-hitters, compared say with the more star-studded Prodi Commission," the long-serving former official added.
Good 'balance' between portfolios
Priestley admitted, however, that Commission President José Manuel Barroso had done a good job distributing portfolios, describing them as "better balanced".
"Everybody appears to have a proper job. There will always be turf wars in a 27-member Commission, but these appear to be manageable this time. And the internal balances - political, geographic, new and old member states, new and old Commission members, gender - all appear to have been rather well-handled," he added.
However, this view is not shared by all. Recently, Parliament insiders told EurActiv that Barroso's portfolio attributions would lead to an unprecedented overlap of responsibilities, seen as a risk factor for the months and years to come (EurActiv 21/01/10).
As for the political balance, Sir Julian said the new EU executive was "very much a broad coalition," whose strong Liberal presence should in his view ensure a durable degree of political support from the three largest parliamentary groups.
Researchers told EurActiv recently that the new Commission was "more partisan" than the first Barroso team, but this was not seen as a negative development (EurActiv 11/12/09).
Toughest test for Ashton
The jury will remain "out" on this Commission until we see the quality of the proposals and actions of the new team, but the toughest test will be for Catherine Ashton, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Commission vice-president, Priestley said.
"Her job is the make-or-break one. She has to create the new service, ensuring that it has sufficient authority and autonomy to provide a serious back-up for the EU's external agenda. And she has to decide on what will essentially be a limited number of EU external priorities, where consensus can be achieved, and where the EU has a clear locus. And she will not be afforded the luxury of much time to prove herself," he warned.
Indeed, Ashton has already come under pressure for her handling of the Haiti humanitarian crisis (EurActiv 25/01/10) or over the sensitive stand-off in Ukraine's presidential election (EurActiv 25/01/10).
The pressure will now be on for the whole team to perform, and to act quickly and decisively. They may not be expected to produce "a hundred days of dynamic action," but "before the summer, people in the institutions and beyond will expect results," Sir Julian said.
