Brussels, 10/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - “I am glad to note that you share the view that the private contacts of members of the Commission are first and foremost a personal matter”, stressed José Manuel Barroso in his response to Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the German Co-President of the Greens/EFA group. In the opinion of the President of the Commission, “the simple fact that a politician has acquaintances or friends in a certain sector cannot per se disqualify him or her from any work in that sector”. He adds: “To think otherwise would risk paralysing almost all political and legislative work”. Mr Cohn-Bendit, who had written to him urging the greatest vigilance on the part of the Commissioners in cases of possible conflicts of interest, had reacted to two separate events: one was the Commission's decision on the en bloc exemption for maritime consortia, a dossier which was handled by President Barroso after the Commissioner for Competition handed it over due to her past involvement in the maritime transport sector, and the other related to revelations about Mr Barroso's holiday aboard a yacht belonging to his old university friend, the Greek shipbuilder Spiro Latsis.
The decision to reallocate dossiers that are not dealt with by Neelie Kroes is “by definition taken on a case-by-case basis”, Mr Barroso explains in his letter, adding that his intention was to assign such dossiers to another Commissioner “once my Commission has settled its working ways”. This is now the case and the promised reallocation “is therefore imminent”. However, there was no confirmed date or any indication as to whether the case would be handed over to the Commissioner for Transport, Jacques Barrot, as Mr Cohn-Bendit requested. President Barroso did, however, reiterate which dossiers currently come under his jurisdiction. Aside from the exemption per category for maritime consortia, a decision which has already been made (EUROPE 8935, p.11), he referred to two other cases Neelie Kroes has handed over. These are: a) the en bloc exemption for maritime conferences, for which a decision is expected in the second half of this year, after the publication in summer of the result of a study of the impact of removing the exemption and alternatives proposed by industry representatives; b) the examination of the behaviour of cross-Channel operators, a case which started under the previous Commission by Mario Monti, the then Commissioner for Competition.