Olli Rehn warns against depriving small EU states of commissioners
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The European Commissioner for Enlargement, Olli Rehn, rejects views expressed by his German colleague, Günter Verheugen, who has said that small countries should not have a right to a European Commissioner of their own in the future.
"I do not feel that [the proposal] is a wise one, and it does not fit into the principles of the EU, according to which member states are equally represented in decision-making. There is suspicion among small countries that the large ones would roll over us", Rehn said.
Earlier this week Verheugen proposed that small countries could, in the future, have the right to only certain assistant commissioners’ posts. The aim of his proposal was to bring more efficiency to the work of the Commission. On Friday the Commission distanced itself from Verheugen’s views.
"These were the personal views of Verheugen, and they do not represent the policy line of the Commission", said Commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen.
Olli Rehn pointed out that the governments of many large member states are much larger than the current 27-member Commission. According to Rehn, there are other ways to bring more efficiency to the work of the Commission.
Rehn feels that it is important for all countries to have representation on the Commission also because the commissioners from the various EU member states serve as contact persons of sorts between the Commission and the member states.
Currently there are exactly as many commissioners as there are member states. The system needs to be changed, because under the current Treaty of Nice, the number of Commissioners must not exceed 27. A possible reform would have to be implemented before 2009, when a new Commission is to be named.
Under the draft EU constitution that has been put on hold, a new system would take effect in 2014, in which seats on the Commission would be rotated among member states. Under such a system there would be times in which Germany would not have a commissioner of its own.
Verheugen also proposed that the European Parliament should choose the President of the Commission. In his view, this would mean that the composition of the Commission would better reflect the democratic results of the elections of the European Parliament.
So far, the President of the Commission has been chosen by consensus among the member states. However, the next time, in 2009, the leader of the Commission will be chosen for the first time by a qualified majority of the member states.
Rehn is opposed to having the Commission President chosen in the European Parliament.
"This is understandable as a view of the representative of a large member state on the Commission. However, the EU is primarily a union of member states. If the President of the Commission were chosen in the European Parliament, it would mean that the position of the large member states would be emphasised", Rehn said.
If the European Parliament were to choose the Commission President, it would mean that the large countries would have a very strong position in making the choice, as the six largest member states hold 441 out of the 784 seats in the Parliament. Verheugen’s Germany has the largest number of MEPs - 99. Finland has just 14.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 8.1.2007 - TODAY |
 Olli Rehn warns against depriving small EU states of commissioners
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