Mandy plays to the galleries during MEPs’ question time

Date: 07/10/04

PETER Mandelson, Britain's trade commissioner-designate, strode back towards what he believes is his rightful place at the centre of the European political stage with a bravura performance before the European Parliament's trade committee on Tuesday (5 October).

During a three-hour grilling, Mandelson played skilfully not only to the gallery of European public opinion, but also to his varied Brussels constituencies. He even sought to ingratiate himself with France but demonstrated his linguistic limitations by opening his formal statement with a few sentences in French.

He sought to position himself as not just a trade specialist, but as one of the strategic thinkers in the new Commission and called for the EU executive to present a report on EU-China relations, better to prepare for the competitive threat its rise is presenting.

He carefully aligned himself with his fellow commissioners by questioning proposals from, among others, the UK government, to cut the EU's budget, saying "you can't have more Europe on less money".

He wooed the Parliament, saying he hoped to be at least as forthcoming with MEPs as his predecessor as trade commissioner, Pascal Lamy. He suggested that he might go further than Lamy by offering to hold informal meetings with the committee "for as long as you like".

He shrewdly positioned himself on the centre-left of the political spectrum. Stealing (without attribution) one of French former Socialist prime minister Lionel Jospin's best lines, he declared to be in favour of "a market economy, not a market society", while insisting that Europe would benefit from open trade.

He identified as a top priority completing the Doha round of trade liberalization talks in a way that would help the world's poorest countries.

And, when the session was over, he moved to put to rest allegations from some of his questioners that he would be just another "transatlanticist Brit".

He went directly from the hearing chamber to a press briefing in which he took direct aim at the Bush administration and the US aircraft giant Boeing. He attacked the Americans for not exhausting opportunities for negotiation before raising the stakes in the dispute over subsidies for Airbus and Boeing jets.

But in comments at the hearing he also made clear that he believes easing the world's biggest economic and security problems depends on "Europe working together with the United States in partnership".

Even before the hearing was over, ripples of laughter at a couple of mocking asides aimed at the British press showed he was winning over his audience and the commissioner-designate visibly began to relax.

Elmar Brok, the veteran Christian Democrat chair of the foreign affairs committee, described Mandelson as "one of the best" candidates for the European Commission.

"He knows his agenda, he has read his papers, he is a professional politician of stature," cooed the German.

Mandelson arrives in Brussels with a mixed reputation.

He is seen by some as a visionary who helped to plot, with the British premier Tony Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown, the Labour Party revolution which led to its 1997 election landslide.

Others see him as a devious manipulator who once had to resign for being economical with the truth on a mortgage application form.

In a recent article in The Guardian newspaper by Roy Hattersley, the former Labour deputy leader describes Mandelson as "Britain's most unpopular politician" and says "he has all the attributes which would make a great commissioner - except one. He lacks discretion".

One Liberal Democrat MEP said that it would be a mistake to underestimate the challenge that Mandelson faces.

Unlike Lamy, who as chef de cabinet to Jacques Delors and then the leader of the powerful DG Trade, has "Brussels" embedded in his DNA, Mandelson is an ingénu here.

But, like Brok, this MEP was impressed by the technical knowledge of his brief that Peter Mandelson displayed. He also admired the skill with which he deflected discussion away from topics in which his inexperience might show.

At times he disarmed potential critics in his audience by openly confessing that he was not on top of this or that subject yet.

But he was also prepared, politely but firmly, to disagree with opinions presented by some of his questioners.

• Stewart Fleming is a former US editor of Financial Times and is now a freelance journalist in Brussels.

Author assesses the performance of Peter Mandelson, British European Commissioner-designate responsible for Trade, at the hearing before the European Parliament's trade committee on 5 October 2004.