No end-of-mandate malaise, says Liikanen

By Peter Chapman

Date: 05/02/04

Ten commissioners from new member states are due to join the College from 1 May. Most, if not all, are expected to stay on with their own portfolios when the next Commission team begins work on 1 November. They will join at a turbulent time, with enlargement, elections for the European Parliament in June, the Commission changeover and talks on adopting a European constitution coinciding.

Observers expect Brussels to grind to a halt as policymakers focus on electioneering, or, in the case of retiring commissioners, finding a new job.

But Liikanen says the new faces will make sure the last days of the current regime are full of energy.

"When I came to the Commission in 1995 we [the new commissioners] had four weeks as observers. [Former Commission president] Jacques Delors said the most brilliant discussions were then.

"They [the new commissioners] will want to make an impact too. We will see a growth of activity," he predicted.

Liikanen, who was in charge of budgetary policy in his first term, before taking over the telecoms and industry policy dossiers from Germany's Martin Bangemann, pledged to carry on working to the penultimate day of his mandate. "I will work until 30 October. 31 October is a Sunday," he joked.

l Estonia's choice of ex-prime minister Siim Kallas as a commissioner could be in question after members of the European People's Party in the Parliament called for nominations of former communists to be rejected.

Lithuania has confirmed its nomination of Finance Minister Dalia Grybauskaite, while Hungary has chosen Péter Balázs, currently head of the country's EU mission, and the Czech government has nominated former environment minister Milso Kuzvart.

Erkki Liikanen, European Commissioner for Enterprise and the Information Society, believes the influx of Commissioners from new Member States in May 2004 will ensure the last days of the current Commission are full of energy.