Top commissioners’ posts filling fast

By Martin Banks

Date: 09/09/04

MORE top jobs in the cabinets of José Manuel Barroso's commissioners-in-waiting were filled this week.

Charlie McCreevy, Ireland's minister of finance, who is to become European commissioner for the internal market and services, named Martin Power as his chef de cabinet on Wednesday. Power currently holds the same post in the office of David Byrne, Ireland's present commissioner.

Power, 54 next week, joined the Commission in 1983 and spent six years in the internal market department in the 1990s, before becoming a head of unit in DG Competition and then heading up the office of Byrne, commissioner for health and consumer protection.

Announcing the appointment, McCreevy said Power brought "a wealth of experience to the job having served in various capacities in the Commission, including the internal market directorate".

By contrast, the Finnish commissioner, Olli Rehn, has decided not to re-appoint Heikki Salmi, who became chef to enterprise commissioner Erkki Liikanen in January 2002. Rehn, who is nominated for the enlargement portfolio, has appointed Timo Pesonen, 39, currently acting head of the European Commission's representation in Helsinki. Previously Pesonen spent six years as a foreign policy advisor to the Finnish government. He was Liikanen's spokesman in 1996-97 during the Finn's first spell as a commissioner, when Rehn was his chef de cabinet.

Rehn has named Fernando Frutuoso-Melo as his deputy head of cabinet. The Portuguese official, currently a head of unit in DG Fisheries, is a former head of the planning unit in the Commission's administration department, for which Liikanen had responsibility during Rehn's time, and worked as head of cabinet for various Portuguese government ministers in the 1980s.

The incoming Czech commissioner, Vladimir Spidla, is expected to appoint Ramiro Cibrian Uzal to head his private office. The Spaniard once headed the Commission's delegation in Prague and has also been in the delegation in Israel.

Peter Mandelson, the UK's trade commissioner-designate, has chosen a Frenchman as his deputy chef de cabinet: Denis Redonnet, who is currently in the cabinet of Pascal Lamy, the man Mandelson will replace in November. Redonnet had been thought likely to join the cabinet of the French commissioner Jacques Barrot.

Mandelson's choice as his press officer is another French official, Claude Veron-Reville, a graduate of the College of Europe who is currently desk officer for Algeria in the Commission's external relations department. At this stage, the appointment is only provisional as press officer posts will have to be confirmed by the Commission's chief press spokesperson.

The German Johannes Laitenberger is strongly tipped to remain as chef de cabinet for Viviane Reding - a post he has occupied for the past two years - in her new role as commissioner for information society and media, while Slovak Miroslav Adamis is expected to head the office of his compatriot, Jan Figel, commissioner-designate for education, training and culture. Adamis is a former head of the Slovak delegation to the EU. Mariann Fischer Boel, the future agriculture commissioner, is expected to select a Dane, Claus Haugaard Sørensen, as her chef de cabinet.

Article speculates about the appointment for top jobs in the cabinets of the new European Commission.