This will be my last commentary on the hearings of the commissioner-designates by the members of the European Parliament. This column will return to the question once we have the final result and the new European Commission takes up its work (finally!) Today, I just have a few remarks to make about three hearings. The essential contribution of our publication to a knowledge and understanding of this exercise can be found in the comprehensive reports published on each of the different hearings.
Dynamism and other virtues. I can't conceal the fact that I have for a long time sympathised with the action taken by Viviane Reding in her role (which she still has another few weeks) at the Commission. This action has been highly commendable - she has had to deal with the industrial giants and specialists in new technology. Her main priority has been defending consumers and citizens. She has achieved a number of results, the most remarkable of which have been managing to lower prices and get rid of national barriers. She will soon be vice-president of the Commission, with a very extensive remit (see the report of the hearing in EUROPE 10054). She believes that the Lisbon Treaty introduces a genuine revolution in the legal field, thanks to the innovations that it brings and the binding nature (in 24 member states) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The texts themselves may possibly go unheeded but this is not Ms Reding's style. She announced that she will present (partly with her colleague-designate at internal affairs, Cecilia Malmström, as discussed below) 169 initiatives contained in the Stockholm programme and she has already said that she will use the new options for “strengthened cooperation” when a project has not obtained a unanimous vote! And she will do this in three months' time! This project involves the simplification of divorce between bi-national couples; but it is not in fact this question that is the most important aspect but rather the immediate confirmation of Ms Reding's dynamism and determination to take action.
Firmness and clarity. I think that it is a positive development that responsibility for internal affairs was conferred on Cecilia Malmström from Sweden. Why? Because, among the initiatives that she has announced there is a code for immigration, and it is positive that this initiative does not go to a commissioner from one of the four member states undergoing mass arrivals of illegal immigrants from the sea and who are not managing to deal with the situation. Ms Malmström used to be an MEP; she was then president of the Council until the end of last year as a Swedish minister. She has therefore gained hands-on experience in European affairs. She announced that she would propose the strengthening of Frontex at the beginning of her mandate, including the granting of aid to member states to repatriate illegal immigrants. She said that she is in favour of having discussions with the third countries concerned, including Turkey and even Libya. A number of MEPs are asking her to take a firm line on illegal immigration (see our publication yesterday) and I think that she will take into account the real situation and continue the action begun by Jacques Barrot. Ms Malmström also announced her intention to tackle other subjects that have sometimes lacked the necessary firmness, particularly a communication on the fight against corruption and an initiative (with Ms Reding) on the confiscation of the assets of the Mafia and other criminal organisations.
Pettiness. The attempt to block the candidacy of Maros Šefèoviè from Slovakia, by dredging up I don't know what kind of disagreeable term he supposedly used to describe the Roma a number of years ago, is in my opinion both petty and clumsy. It was taken out of its context, and the sentence he used could at most have meant that in Slovakia the Roma exerted a considerable cost to the welfare state. This is an observation and no more than that. Different Roma organisations immediately acknowledged the efficient action taken by Mr Šefèoviè in their favour. Mr Šefèoviè has been involved in European issues for 15 years and was the permanent representative of his country in Brussels, director-general for European affairs at the foreign affairs ministry of his country and for several months has been a European commissioner. His hearing confirmed that he is an excellent candidate for remaining a commissioner (EUROPE 10059). He explained that when he becomes responsible for institutional affairs, European Parliament officials will be able to take part in the future European diplomatic service under the auspices of Vice-President Catherine Ashton. One parliamentarian attempted to criticise him for having studied in Moscow. He replied that under Gorbachev, the atmosphere was much more democratic in Moscow than in Bratislava and elsewhere, and that his plunge into European affairs had exercised “an enormous power of transformation” on him.
(F.R./transl.Fl)