Brussels, 05/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - The ideas expressed in recent days in the press by vice president Günter Verheugen in favour of a reduction in the size of the college of 27 Commissioners do not reflect the official Commission position, “which has not changed its position” and which will continue to defend the institutional provisions included in the draft Constitutional Treaty. This is what a Commission spokesperson declared on Friday, underlining that the “personal remarks” of Mr Verheugen had to be considered as a “contribution to the general debate” on the future size of the Commission in an enlarged Union. The draft Constitutional Treaty stipulates that the first Commission nominated under the Constitution would still consist of a national from each Member State, namely 27 members as it currently stands. From the end of the mandate of the first Commission that follows the entry into force of the Constitution (in 2014, if the Treaty applies before the arrival of the next Commission in 2009), the Commission will, according to the text of the draft be “composed of a number of members, including the president and the Union's minister for foreign affairs, corresponding to two thirds of the number of Member States, unless the European Council, deciding at unanimity, decides to change this number”.
Mr Verheugen stated on German television on Wednesday that small Member States should not necessarily be represented by a Commissioner. “A Member State gets most benefit from a Vice Commissioner responsible for an important area rather than a Commissioner responsible for a less important domain…We need an efficient Commission that is streamlined and highly competent. I hope that the German Presidency will give an effective boost to de-bureaucratisation”. Commissioner Danuta Hübner has already refuted the ideas of her colleague. On Thursday she declared to the Polish press agency, PAP, that establishing differences between small and big Member States in the composition of the Commission is “unacceptable”. (hb)