Rumours of root-and-branch change

Date: 12/12/1996

Information is filtering out of DGX (information) that things are about to change, and - as one irreverent insider put it - if information is filtering out of DGX, then things are definitely changing!

Word is that there are problems finding someone prepared to take on the poisoned chalice of director-general to replace Colette Flesch.

With so much upheaval within the DG and with its future in doubt, that may not be surprising.

The current head of Directorate B, Niels Thøgersen, could well take over in a caretaker role.

Another name being bandied about is that of Eduardo Ibañez, currently deputy chef de cabinet to DGX's Commissioner Marcelino Oreja.

But what of DGX itself? Will it be downsized, downloaded, downgraded or is it not to be at all? That is the question great minds are now pondering.

Essentially, Directorate C, which deals with institutional information, is to be abolished, with its competences hived off to the relevant DGs.

Directorate C's current supremo, former porte parole member Marco Santopinto, is tipped for a new liaison role with the current head of the Spokesman's Service Klaus van der Pas.

That may be enough to answer Van Der Pas' complaints about the lack of coordination between his service and DGX.

Or maybe not ...