NAMES OF COMMISSIONERS FROM NEWEST EU STATES EMERGE
By Mark Beunderman
EUobserver.com, Belgium
Oct 25 2006
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The names of the two likely new members of
the European Commission have emerged, with Romania proposing liberal
senator Varujan Vosganian and Bulgaria likely to nominate EU affairs
minister Meglena Kuneva.
Romanian prime minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu officially announced
his country’s nomination on Wednesday (25 October), with EU accession
of Romania and Bulgaria on 1 January 2007 fast approaching.
"I strongly believe that the solid political experience and the
professional profile of Mr Varujan Vosganian recommends him for this
position," Mr Tariceanu said.
Mr Vosganian, a 48 year old economist and a liberal senator, is a
member of the Armenian minority of Romania. He is also a member of
the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, Europe’s human
rights watchdog.
The move came as a surprise after press reports on Wednesday morning
had suggested that Bucharest would pick justice minister Monica
Macovei as its member of the EU executive.
Meanwhile, Bulgarian officials on Wednesday could not give official
confirmation of their country’s commissioner-designate doing the
rounds – EU affairs minister Meglena Kuneva.
But government-linked news website eunews.bg referred to a report on
Bulgarian public radio saying Sofia will put forward Ms Kuneva, who
had already been frequently tipped for the post and who is well-known
on the Brussels scene.
The head of the Bulgarian centre-right observers group in the European
Parliament, Maria Cappone, told her colleagues in statement that
"the Bulgarian government has nominated the minister for European
integration, Mrs Meglena Kuneva."
The European Commission and EU member states still have to officially
agree to Mr Vosganian and Ms Kuneva as the two new commissioners,
with a commission spokeswoman saying today that commission chief
Jose Manuel Barroso will only issue a statement once consensus on
the issue is fully clear.
Recent "consultations" between Sofia, Bucharest, the commission and
EU capitals, suggest however that the two candidates emerging on
Wednesday will be endorsed by Mr Barroso and national governments.
Mr Barroso is thereafter solely responsible for the attribution of
the exact portfolios for the commissioners.
One EU official on Wednesday denied reports that Mr Barroso will split
the justice and home affairs portfolio and create a new commissioner
for immigration.
Another suggestion doing the rounds on the tasks of the new
commissioners is that the consumer protection and health portfolio
will be divided – resulting in a separate new commissioner for health.
Barroso tells parliament to shift date Meanwhile the European
Parliament will hear the two commissioners-designate in late November,
with the EU assembly still wrangling with the commission on when it
will vote on the new members of the Barroso team – either just before
or just after accession.
Parliamentary group chiefs have picked 4 January as an investiture
date for the new commissioners, in order to allow the Romanian and
Bulgarian MEPs – who until 1 January have "observer" status only –
to vote for their own commissioners as fully-fledged European deputies.
But in a letter to the parliament’s president Josep Borrell, commission
chief Barroso has written that this is legally impossible.
In the letter, dated 23 October, Mr Barroso writes that parliament has
to finish its procedure "before" 1 January in order to allow the new
commissioners to "take up their positions on 1 January," citing legal
reasons enshrined in the accession treaties of Romania and Bulgaria.
Political group leaders in the parliament are discussing the issue
in Strabourg this week, considering the alternative of shifting the
vote to December.