Spokesperson reshuffle continues apace

By Martin Banks

Date: 07/10/04

SEVERAL of the Romano Prodi team of spokesmen and women of the European Commission are making progress in their hunt for new jobs in the incoming Barroso administration.

Beate Gminder, spokeswoman for Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner David Byrne, is to join the cabinet of Margot Wallström, when she becomes commissioner for communication strategy.

Per Haugaard, who left his job as spokesman for enterprise to join the cabinet of Erkki Liikanen and then Olli Rehn, has now secured a place in the cabinet of the new trade commissioner Peter Mandelson.

Gilles Gantelet, who moved from being spokesman for Loyola de Palacio to be spokesman for Jacques Barrot, cannot continue in the post because the Barroso rules forbid the commissioner and spokesperson being of the same nationality.

But he will now become assistant to François Lamoureux, the director-general for transport and energy, a move which parallels that of his compatriot Eric Mamer, budget spokesman, who it was already announced would be an assistant to the budget director-general.

Several of the spokesman's service are moving sideways to become spokespeople for new commissioners. None have yet been confirmed in any posts but the Commission's new press chief, Françoise Le Bail, is expected to have the new press team in place by the time the incoming Commission takes office on 1 November.

Among those on the move are:

• Antonia Mochan, currently spokeswoman for employment and social affairs, who is expected to be spokeswoman for Janez Potocnik, commissioner-designate for research;
• Ewa Hedlund, whom Margot Wallström brought in as environment spokeswoman, is expected to become spokeswoman for Dalia Grybauskaite, Lithuanian commissioner for financial programming and budget;
• Stefaan De Rynck, who was spokesman for institutional reform under Michel Barnier, is expected to become spokesman for the French commissioner Jacques Barrot when he takes over the transport portfolio;
• Michael Mann, spokesman for reform commissioner Neil Kinnock, has been lined up to be spokesman for Mariann Fischer Boel, designated agriculture commissioner.

Emma Udwin, currently spokeswoman for outgoing external affairs commissioner Chris Patten, is expected to continue in the same job for Patten's successor, the Austrian Benita Ferrero-Waldner. Similarly, Frédéric Vincent, culture spokesman, will become spokesman to the incoming commissioner for education, culture and multilingualism Jan Figel.

A newcomer will be Katharina von Schnurbein, a German who was a press officer in the Commission's representation office in Prague, who is tipped to be employment commissioner Vladimir Spidla's spokeswoman. Spidla's chef de cabinet was once head of the representation.

Article reports on the appointments of spokesmen and women of the incoming European Commission, October 2004.