Cabinet doors open for UK and Germany

By Martin Banks

Date: 02/09/04

COMPETITION for top jobs in the cabinets of the new European Commission is intensifying but already it seems that Britons and Germans will predominate

France, already sore because its commissioner, Jacques Barrot, was only given the transport portfolio, will not be strongly represented

Benoit Le Bret, a former member of Michel Barnier's cabinet, is expected to be named as head of Barrot's office

Peter Mandelson, the UK's commissioner nominated for the trade portfolio, has chosen Simon Fraser, a UK Foreign Office official, to head his cabinet. Fraser is currently head of the Foreign Office's Middle East division, and before that was at the British embassy in Paris. He will know the trade beat well since he served as deputy head of cabinet to Sir Leon Brittan, in the Santer Commission

Mandelson has also named a Downing Street advisor on Europe, Roger Liddle, to his cabinet. The two men have long been friends and together wrote The Blair Revolution in 1996, a manifesto for the future Labour government

Another Briton, Patrick Child, who was in the cabinet of Chris Patten, and became chef after the departure of Anthony Cary, is staying on as chef to the incoming external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Austria's nominee.

Child already has some experience of working closely with non-British commissioners. He was spokesman for Yves-Thibault de Silguy in the Santer Commission.

Another Briton, Stephen Quest, will continue as head of the cabinet of the Lithuanian commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite who is to take the budget portfolio.

Quest once had the distinction of being the only non-Irishman in Padraig Flynn's cabinet

Germany is also expected to provide at least three heads of cabinet: Peter Tempel, currently head of cabinet for Günter Verhuegen, commissioner for enterprise and industry, Peter Droell, for Slovene research commissioner Janez Potocnik, and Sabine Weyand, for Louis Michel, the Belgian commissioner who is taking the development and humanitarian aid portfolio. Weyand was previously in the trade cabinet of Pascal Lamy

Soon-to-be Commission president José Manuel Barroso is anxious for women to be well represented in the cabinet appointments. Other women set to head cabinets are Spaniard Maria-Louisa Lamela, for economic and monetary affairs commissioner Joaquín Almunia, and Nancy Kontou, for environment commissioner Stavros Dimas. Kontou is another who used to be in a Brittan cabinet

Heikki Salmi, who was Erkki Likkanen's chef de cabinet, is expected to continue with the Finnish commissioner Olli Rehn

Dutchman Ben Smulders, who was once in Hans van den Broek's cabinet, is tipped to take charge of the office of Neelie Kroes, the new competition commissioner

Several commissioners are expected to keep their heads of cabinet unchanged.

Swede Rolf Annerberg will continue as chef de cabinet for Margot Wallström when she takes up her new post as commissioner for institutional relations and communication strategy; Tamas Szucs, who headed the office of Peter Balázs, is expected to be reappointed by Balázs' replacement László Kovács.

The cabinets of the commissioners from the new states are of such recent formation that they are unlikely to be greatly changed.

Dutchman Joost Korte is likely to continue as head of Polish commissioner Danuta Hübner's office when she takes over regional policy.

The Estonian Henrik Hololei is expected to stay with administrative affairs commissioner Siim Kallas, while Patrick Tabone will stay with Maltese commissioner Joe Borg

According to internal Commission rules, there should be at least three different nationalities in the six-strong cabinet of each commissioner. The commissioner is expected to have someone of a different nationality as either cabinet head or deputy head

A Commission insider said that while there is no formal deadline for appointing heads of cabinet, commissioners would hope to finalize their teams well before confirmation hearings start at the European Parliament on 27 September

Barroso himself has not yet finalized his team. He is thought to want a Portuguese as head of cabinet and a French and a Briton to be numbers two and three

Portuguese João Vale de Almeida, director in DG Education and currently head of Barroso's transition team, is in a strong position to become the president's right-hand man.

Permanent representative in Brussels for Portugal, Alvaro Mendonça e Moura, has also been tipped

But it is thought that Barroso may prefer to keep him in the strategic post as ambassador in Brussels.

Recruitment from Lisbon has been made difficult by rules limiting the status of outsiders

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