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Four
new Commissioners at the EU
By Tom Kiedrowski, Regulatory Affairs Manager ECTA
When President-designate, Jose Barroso,
announced his new team of Commissioners on 12 August,
he had a few surprises up his sleeve. Whilst Danuta
Hubner of Poland had been widely rumoured to take
on the role of Trade Commissioner from Pascal Lamy,
in the end the post went to Peter Mandelson who
himself had been tipped to take the internal market
post.
Following the EU’s single largest enlargement
to the South and East of Europe, the representation
of the five biggest countries (i.e. Germany, France,
U.K., Italy and Spain) was cut from two commissioners
to one. Peter Mandelson replaces
both Chris Patten and Neil Kinnock. Mandelson is
known in the UK as a committed European but is perhaps
better known for his exploits in British politics.
A close confidant of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair,
he is seen as one of the chief architects of ‘New
Labour’ and credited with helping Tony Blair
secure victory in 1997 general election. Later on
he famously resigned twice from Blair’s cabinet
- first as Trade and Industry Secretary and later
as the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland over
allegations of conflict of interest.
So whilst Peter Mandelson received the post of Trade
Commissioner, Internal Market and Services went
to another politically controversial figure, namely
Charlie McCreevy of Ireland. In 2001, during his
time as Ireland’s Finance Minister, McCreevy
ignored a reprimand from the EU for cutting Irish
fuel taxes at a time when the Irish economy was
already booming. Mr McCreevy is new to the European
Commission and replaces David Byrne.
Prior to making his announcement, Jose Barroso indicated
to Member State governments that he wanted more
female commissioners and the Dutch government duly
obliged with the nomination of Neelie Kroes.
Kroes has been active in Dutch politics since joining
the Liberal party at local level. During the 1980s
she held the post of Transport Minister for two
terms. A former president of Nijenrode University,
Kroes is on the boards of the electronics company,
Lucent Technologies, the shipping firm Royal P&O
Nedlloyd, the mobile operator MMO2 and the car manufacturer
Volvo. It will be interesting to see how those experiences
shape her thinking in her new role as Competition
Commissioner.
Of most interest to the electronic communications
industry is the amalgamation of Information Society
and Media into a new Commission post for Viviane
Reding. Reding, from Luxembourg, currently
holds the post of Commissioner for Education, Culture,
Media and Sports. Her association with the media
sector is long standing having enjoyed an overlapping
career as Journalist and Member of Parliament within
the Christian Democratic Party. Nominated to the
European Commission in 1999, she more recently drew
a lot of attention over the review of the ‘Television
Without Frontiers’ Directive. Reding is one
of three members of the last Commission to stay
on for a second term along with Guenter Verheugen
of Germany and Margot Wallstroem of Sweden. |
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