Brussels, 12/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - As it undertook to do, the European Commission has published the full list of the names and duties of its 55 special advisers, charged with informing the European commissions' deliberations on the various EU policies (see EUROPE 9369). All of these advisers' contracts expire on 31 March, so the Commission will have to examine their mandates with a view to their extension.
On 9 March, Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini indicated that he would not extend the contract of his adviser on legal and police cooperation, Walter Cretella-Lombardo because of his alleged involvement in a case of fraud, estimated to be worth €200 million, in Community funds for the regional water sector. It is also known that the contract of Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs' adviser, Rolf Linkohr, will not be renewed. According to the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) there are “serious” conflicts of interest between his various offices (he is a member of the Board of EnBW Energy Baden-Württemberg AG). In addition, the CEO believes that there is another potential case of conflict of interests, involving this time Etienne Davignon, adviser to Commissioner Louis Michel on the role of the private sector in the economic development of sub-Saharan Africa. Mr Davignon is a Board member of the Suez group, which is promoting the privatisation of public electricity and water supply services in Africa, the CEO points out. According to the Suez group web site, Mr Davignon holds 11,111 Suez shares.
The list confirms that the president of the Commission has five social advisers (Loukas Tsoukalis, José Cutileiro, Dusan Sidjanski, Bernard Foccroulle and Michel Barnier), and that Franco Frattini has a grand total of eleven. In addition, Jan Figel (Education and Culture) has five special advisers. Louis Michel, Viviane Reding (Information Society and the Media) and Danuta Hübner (Regional Policy) all have four special advisers. Some Commissioners have only one adviser: Joaquin Almunia (Economy), László Kovács (Taxation and Customs Union), Jacques Barrot (Transport), Dalia Grybauskaité (Budget), Markos Kyprianou (Health and Consumer Welfare) and Günter Verheugen (Enterprise and Industry). Several, such as Peter Mandelson (Trade), Neelie Kroes (Competition), Benita Ferrero-Waldner (External Relations), Mariann Fischer Boel (Agriculture), Joe Borg (Fisheries) and Stavros Dimas (Environment) don't have any. (lc)