New EU Foreign Minister's post could cause problems for Finnish Commissioner

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By Laura Pekonen
     
      The establishment of a post of European Union Foreign Minister could affect the work of Olli Rehn, who was named to the post of Commissioner for Enlargement last week.
      The commissioners responsible for various aspects of the EU's external relations will probably have to give some of their responsibilities to the Foreign Minister. Alternatively, the tasks could be distributed, which means that the Commissioners’ influence is likely to be reduced.
      The online information service EUobserver reported on Friday that the redistribution of Commissioners’ tasks is mandated by the planned EU constitution.
      When the EU constitution is ratified by all member states, Spain’s Javier Solana is set to be the first Foreign Minister of the EU. This is scheduled to happen no earlier than 2006.
     
Establishing a Foreign Minister’s post was seen as necessary so as to give the foreign policy of the EU a single face, voice, and a limited number of telephone numbers. Until now the economic aspects of the EU’s external relations have been handled by the Commissioner of External Affairs, and the common security policy has been the responsibility of a high member of the European Council. This has been found to be a somewhat confusing arrangement.
      The EU Foreign Minister will be the Vice President of the Commission, and will take over the responsibilities of the Commissioner for External Relations - Austria’s Benita Ferrero-Waldner. This might leave her with nothing more to deal with than the EU’s policy toward neighbouring countries. Alternatively, the tasks could be rearranged within the group of Commissioners responsible for external affairs.
      In addition to Ferrero-Waldner herself, this group includes Enlargement Commissioner Rehn, the British Commissioner for Trade Policy Peter Mandelson, and the Belgian Development Cooperation Commissioner Louis Michel.
     
The group is headed by Commission President José Manuel Durão Barroso. Nevertheless, the new Foreign Minister will take over responsibility for all issues of EU foreign policy.
      "It can be that the arrangement will not have any significant effect on Rehn’s portfolio, because in foreign affairs, enlargement is perhaps most clearly an entity unto itself", said EU researcher Teija Tiilikainen on Friday. "However, the greatest challenge will be what the Foreign Minister will mean for the whole Commission."
     
In the discussions for the EU constitution, Finland and other small countries were opposed to making the Foreign Minister a member of both the Commission and the Council. The task of the Commission is to look after the common interests of the EU, while in the Council, ministers of the various countries look after the interests of their respective governments.
      Tiilikainen says that the small countries are afraid that instead of promoting the interests of the Union, a foreign minister sitting on two chairs will speak with the voice of the powerful member states. One example would be a situation in which the EU sets as a condition of trade that some poor country would improve its human rights situation. The former colonial powers of the EU might tend to overlook some of the problems of their ex-colonies.
      "This could bring conflicts of power into the EU", Tiilikainen says.
     
Olli Rehn says that there has been no discussion on the changes that the establishment of a post of Foreign Minister would bring.
      Rehn notes that Barroso had said that he plans to reshuffle the Commissioners’ portfolios during the five-year term - possibly in the spring of 2007. This is necessary also so that when Solana joins the Commission, fellow Spaniard Joaquin Almunia will have to step aside, leaving his Economic and Monetary Policy portfolio up for grabs.
      "There will be 24 portfolios even after Solana joins the ranks. There will be plenty of important tasks", Rehn said.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 14.8.2004


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland’s Olli Rehn gets Enlargement portfolio in European Commission (13.8.2004)

LAURA PEKONEN / Helsingin Sanomat
laura.pekonen@hs.fi