Barroso appoints senior officials to cabinet

By Martin Banks

Date: 23/09/04

JOSE Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president-in-waiting, has chosen three experienced Commission insiders to head his team and communicate his policies.

He has selected his 47-year-old compatriot João Vale de Almeida to the post of chef de cabinet.

Born in Lisbon, Almeida studied history and became a journalist for the Portuguese daily newspaper, Diário de Notícias. He joined the European Commission's representation in Lisbon in 1982 and became a member of the spokesman's service in Brussels in 1989, acting as spokesman for Abel Matutes, Antonio Cardoso e Cunha and João de Deus Pinheiro.

In 1992-94 he was head of unit at the Economic and Social Committee before returning to the Commission in 1995 as deputy spokesman. He was appointed director in the old DG X (information, communication, culture and audiovisual) in charge of information networks.

Latterly he was a director in DG education and culture in charge of youth, civil society and communication until he was asked to lead the team of officials steering the transition from Romano Prodi's administration to that of Barroso, which takes over on 1 November.

Barroso has appointed Alexander Italianer, a Dutch national, as his deputy head of cabinet. Since May Italianer has been head of cabinet for the commissioner from the Czech Republic, Pavel Telicka.

Italianer, aged 48, joined the Commission in 1985, starting in the department of economic and financial affairs, before joining the cabinet of the then president of the Commission, Jacques Santer. In this role he shadowed economic and financial affairs issues during the period that the euro was launched. When the Prodi Commission came in, he was head of cabinet for Günter Verheugen, 1999-2002, then returned to the economic and financial affairs department as director for international affairs.

A Commission source said it was significant that Barroso had chosen Commission insiders to occupy the top two posts in his cabinet.

"Both are very experienced officials who have worked across a range of services over many years. These are people who, clearly, have a very detailed and extensive knowledge of the system."

But diplomats told this newspaper that Barroso had had difficulties in recruiting senior officials from Lisbon because of the salary scale and rules on appointments from outside.

A chef de cabinet is designated as A*14 under the new staff grades (an old A2). A deputy is A*12 (an old A3).

Barroso has appointed Françoise Le Bail, a 55-year-old French lawyer, as Commission chief spokesperson, replacing Reijo Kemppinen. Le Bail is another Commission veteran, having worked for the executive for 27 years.

She once served as spokeswoman to the Belgian commissioner Willy de Clercq. She was a member of the cabinet, latterly deputy head, for taxation commissioner Christiane Scrivener.

In 1991, she returned to the external relations department before joining DG Trade in 1997 where she was made a director in 2000. Once married to UK Tory MEP James Elles, her partner now is the Commission's director-general for education and culture, Nikolaus van der Pas, who was Commission spokesman under Jacques Santer.

Almeida and Italianer join 38-year-old Fernando Andresen Guimarães, recently appointed as advisor to Barroso on external relations. Each commissioner's cabinet must contain at least three different nationalities and either the head or the deputy head must be a different nationality from the commissioner.

Article reports on the appointment of three European Commission senior officials to the posts of Chef de Cabinet, Deputy Chef de Cabinet and Commission Chief Spokesperson by designated President José Manuel Barroso.