Keeping the balance

Date: 20/02/1997

Departing European Parliament Secretary-General Enrico Vinci could be forgiven for taking satisfaction from knowing it will take two people to fill his job.

In addition to Julian Priestley, who takes over from Vinci on 1 March, the Parliament has, for the first time, appointed a deputy secretary-general in the shape of Harald Rømer, former secretary-general of the British/Danish Conservative Group before it linked up with the European People's Party (EPP).

MEPs decided late last year to create the new deputy post not only to give the boss some backup, but also to provide a balanced EPP/Socialist ticket at the top.

Enter Rømer, oldish and centre-right, already one of the Parliament's directors-general.

Confirmation of the name of the new incumbent and his functions was not expected until Priestley was well ensconced - but Parliament President José María Gil-Robles scooped the world with a recent cocktail party invitation which announced Romer's appointment. Rumours now abound that Gil-Robles is keen to curb the new secretary-general's authority before he has even taken up his post.

But any ill feeling the premature disclosure might have created was nothing compared to the hackles which were raised in the early days of the last Spanish parliamentary presidency.

Then, Enrique Baron's chef de cabinet tried to commandeer Vinci's office for himself, claiming it was too grand for a mere secretary-general.