A LOOK BEHIND THE NEWS /

Prodi's initiative to alter the functioning of the Commission tries to reconcile the principle of "one Commissioner per country" with efficiency

Romano Prodi has fired first (see yesterday's bulletin, p. 7 and p.13). We can but welcome the dynamism that enabled him to anticipate, for the Commission over which he presides, the reforms expected of all European institutions to improve their functioning and efficiency and to prepare for enlargement. His initiative responds to four essential principles:

1. Respect for the Convention's prerogatives, in the sense that nothing Prodi announced interferes with the new Treaty that has to...