Plan to cap Commission size gains ground

Date: 16/11/00

By Simon Taylor

ALL EU governments may sacrifice their right to send a European Commissioner to Brussels every five years after the next major enlargement of the Union, under a deal emerging in the ongoing treaty reform negotiations.

Diplomats predict that EU leaders will sign up to a two-stage reform of the Commission at next month's summit in Nice. Under the agreement now taking shape, every member state would have one Commissioner in the team which serves from 2005-2010 - including any new countries which joined the Union during that period. But the number of Commissioners would be limited once a significant number of new countries entered the EU, and posts would then have to be shared out between them.

This would mean that for the first time in the institution's history, founder member states such as France, Germany and Italy might not have a representative in the executive. "It is clear now that you will get one Commissioner per member state and then you move to equal rotation of posts," said one official.

Under one model for allocating posts drawn up by the Commission, large countries would be divided into groups to ensure portfolios were shared evenly among all member states.

But diplomats are predicting a major battle in the run-up to Nice over when to move to a rotation system. Some delegations want the change-over to occur once the Union has taken in five or ten new members, while others believe it should happen automatically in 2010.

A third group are reluctant to commit themselves to the switchover in the Nice Treaty, and will argue that governments should instead agree to take a unanimous decision on the make-up of the new Commission before 2010. However, diplomats believe that the largest member states will argue strenuously against delaying a decision yet again.

Negotiators believe the rotation of posts could be accepted by both large and small member states because it would provide the best guarantee that all countries will retain an influence within the Commission.

Officials say the breakthrough came after Germany and Spain dropped their previously fierce opposition to the scheme. Both dismissed it as unacceptable in September, but have since come round to the idea as a way of streamlining the Commission to ensure it can operate effectively when the EU expands.

In a separate development, the Union's small member states are stepping up pressure to make it more difficult for larger countries to block decisions in the Council of Ministers. They are supporting a Finnish proposal which would mean that four of the five largest member states - France, Germany, the UK, Italy and Spain - would have to join forces to form a blocking minority. Large countries want the bar set lower, with just three member states able to reject a proposal.

All EU governments may sacrifice their right to send a European Commissioner to Brussels every five years after the next major enlargment of the Union, under a deal emerging in the ongoing treaty reform negotiations.