Brussels, 09/02/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, Commission President Romano Prodi forwarded to the Council and to the European Parliament the complete list of ten candidates designated by the governments of acceding countries to become European Commissioners from 1 May this year. The last name, that of Cypriot contender Markos Kyprianou, was not added to the list until the weekend (EUROPE of 7 February, p.3).
"The ten candidates have the full approval of President Prodi who is 'confident' that the European Parliament 'also will find them excellent'", the Commission spokesperson said on Monday. President Prodi is very pleased with the quality and the diversity of candidates' competence and, he believes, they will "strengthen the College" by being there. Now that the list of candidates has the approval of the Commission President, the procedure to be followed is as follows, the spokesperson said:
- First of all, the governments of the ten acceding countries must formally inform the Council of Ministers of the name of their candidate;
- then, the Council should enact on this list with a vote by qualified majority, before formally informing the European Parliament of its favourable opinion;
- the EP will organise, in principle from 13 to 16 April, individual "mini-hearings" of candidates (the Commission spokesperson refused to speculate on the case in hand where the EP would refuse one or several Commissioners, considering that the Treaty was "not very clear" on the procedure to be followed in such cases);
- and, finally, the Council must formally approve the official appointment of the ten Commissioners who will take up their function on 1 May for a transitional period of six months (until end October).
According to the Commission spokesperson, a "majority" of governments of the ten acceding countries have already told President Prodi of their intention to keep their designated Commissioner in place for the following Commission term, from November 2004 to end 2009. During the six transitional months, the new Commissioners will have voting rights and will "fully and actively" take part in the work of the Commission, but they will not hold an individual portfolio. On the other hand, they will be appointed to current Commissioners and will have a restricted cabinet composed of three persons (they will not have their own spokesperson). President Prodi has not yet decided who will be appointed to whom, or which issues will only remain in the hands of the current Commissioners. Mr Prodi is currently continuing his individual talks with the future designated Commissioners and also hopes to consult the current College of Commissioners before taking a final decision, the spokesman's department said, considering that a decision could be announced "by the end of the week".
The ten candidates, including three women in accordance with Romano Prod's wishes, are:
Cyprus: Last weekend the government proposed the current finance minister, Marcos Kyprianou (aged 44). Mr Kyprianou is a jurist and has been a member of the Cypriot Parliament since 1991.
Estonia: Siim Kallas (56), economist, former Prime Minister (2002-2003), Finance Minister (1999-2002), Foreign Minister (1995-1996), President of the National Bank of Estonia (1991-95).
Hungary: Peter Balazs (63), economist, current Ambassador of Hungary with the EU in Brussels, former Secretary of State for European Affairs and for international economic relations.
Latvia: Sandra Kalniete (52), jurist, currently Foreign Minister (since 2002), former Ambassador to France and with UNESCO in Paris, returned to Latvia in 1957 her family having been deported to Siberia after Soviet occupation.
Lithuania: Daila Grybauskaite (48), economist, current Finance Minister (since 2001), former Deputy Foreign Minister (2000), negotiator for the Europe Agreement with the EU (1994-95).
Malta: Joe Borg (52), current Foreign Minister, jurist, adviser on European Affairs to the Foreign Minister (1989-1995), national MP since 1995.
Poland: Danuta Huebner (56), current Minister for European Affairs, economist (international relations), under-Secretary of State to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (1994-1996), Chief Negotiator for Poland's accession to the OECE (1995), head of the Chancellery of the President of Poland (1997-1998).
Slovakia: Jan Figel (44), electronics engineer with training in international affairs, Chief Negotiator for Slovakia's EU membership, former Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and currently Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs at the Slovakian Parliament.
Slovenia: Janez Potocnik (46), economist, currently Minister for European Affairs, former Chief Negotiator for Slovenia's accession talks.
Czech Republic: Milos Kuzvartu (44), scientist (geology/geo-chemistry), former Minister of the Environment (1998-2002), currently member of the joint EU/Czech Republic parliamentary committee.