Anita Pollack
European Consultant
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EU REPORT FOR EACDECEMBER 2009
Festive greetings and good wishes for the new year to all
Swedish Presidency
New year Presidency Spain
EU Capitals of Culture Linz and Vilnius
Capitals of Culture 2010 – Istanbul (Turkey), Pecs (Hungary) and Essen (Germany)
2010 is European Year of Combatting Poverty and Social Exclusion
COMMISSIONERS-DELEGATE and PORTFOLIOS NAMED
These will be subject to Hearings 11-19 January in the European Parliament with approval on 26 January, apart from Barroso, who has already been confirmed.The new Commissioners take office on 1st February.
The following comments have been taken from various EU sources.
There are thirteen new faces – although a further six members were not in the original 2004-2009 College. All those current commissioners who will remain in the College have new portfolios – which may give José Manuel Barroso a good deal of latitude in the early months of the new College, as commissioners settle in to their new roles. There are some major changes to portfolios.
Following a high-profile campaign to ensure a better gender balance, the new College includes nine women – the highest ever proportion of females. Socialists and Liberals are well represented – three of the seven vice-presidents (Catherine Ashton, Joaquin
Almunia and Maroš Šefcovic) come from the centre-left, and a further two from the Liberal political family (Olli Rehn and Siim Kallas).
NB Those who were in the previous Commission are marked *
*President – Jose Manuel Barroso (Portugal)
*External Relations Vice-President, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy – Catherine Ashton (UK)
*Vice President, Justice, Civil Rights and Citizenship- Viviane Reding (Luxembourg)
*Vice President, Competition – Joaquin Almunia (Spain)
*Vice President, Transport – Siim Kallas (Estonia)
*Vice President, Digital Agenda – Neelie Kroes (Netherlands)
*Vice President, Industry and Entrepeneurship – Antonio Tajani (Italy)
*Vice President, Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration – Maros Sefcovic (Slovakia)
Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion - Laszlo Andor (Hungary)
Internal Market and Services, Michel Barnier (France)
Agriculture and Rural Development – Dacian Ciolos (Romania)
Health and Consumer Policy – John Dalli (Malta)
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries – Maria Damanaki (Greece)
Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy – Stefan Fule (Czech)
Research and Innovation – Maire Geoghegan-Quinn (Ireland)
*Trade – Karel de Gucht (Belgium)
Regional Policy – Johannes Hahn (Austria)
Climate Action – Connie Hedegaard (Denmark)
Budget and Financial Programming – Janusz Lewandowski (Poland)
Home Affairs – Cecilia Malmstrong (Sweden)
Energy – Gunther Oettinger (Germany)
*Development – Andris Piebalgs (Latvia)
*Environment – Janez Potocnik (Slovenia)
*Economic and Monetary Affairs – Olli Rehn (Finland)
*Taxation and Customs Unit, Audit and Anti-Fraud – Algirdas Semeta (Lithuania)
*Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth – Androulla Vassiliou (Cyprus)
International Co-operation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response – Rumiana Zheleva (Bulgaria)
The main new position is Climate Action (for Connie Hedegaard, a Danishconservative who has been the country’s climate and energy minister in the lead-up to the Copenhagen climate talks and is seen as dynamic – probably important for this very ‘horizontal’ role. The creation of the position is a clear signal that climate change will be a big priority for the Commission, across all sectors. As a newcomer, Ms
Hedegaard may need the President’s support to help enforce this priority across the College and the whole Commission – despite her good credentials and knowledge of the policy area. The setting-up of a DG Climate Action, before summer 2010, will give the role added weight. MEPs on the Parliament’s Environment Committee were not happy at splitting the environment portfolio.
Other portfolios have been re-modelled – Viviane Reding, who will chair
the Commission in Mr Barroso’s absence, has been given responsibility for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, a post announced by Mr Barroso during his hearing before the European Parliament. Her role will cover anti-discrimination and equality (Directorate G of DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal
Opportunities), DG Communication, and parts of DG Justice, Liberty and
Security. DG JLS will also fall under the political control of the Swedish
nominee, Cecilia Malmstrom, commissioner-designate for Home Affairs,
who will principally cover immigration.One important responsibility for Mrs Reding is consumer contract and marketing law, gained from DG Sanco. Telecoms companies will be well aware of her tenacity following her work on roaming charges, and she is
likely to apply a similar approach to consumer law in general.
Health and Consumer Policy, split in the latter part of the previous Commission, are now re-united under the stewardship of the Maltese nominee, John Dalli, who has been a finance minister, foreign minister from 2004-2008, and social policy
minister (including health) from 2008. Despite the loss of consumer contract and marketing law to DG JLS, Mr Dalli is one of the big winners of the re-shuffle: DG Sanco takes on significant additional responsibilities in the new Commission (pharmaceuticals from DG Enterprise and Industry and biotechnology and pesticides from DG Environment). The merger of the health and consumer portfolios also sees two ‘big beasts’ of the Commission’s services – John Bell and Philippe Brunet, chefs de cabinet for the outgoing consumer and health commissioners respectively – looking for new roles. Mr Brunet is said to be a candidate to be a key player in the new DG Sanco, possibly with the pharmaceuticals unit - of which he was previously the head. Responsibility for the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) also follows pharmaceuticals to DG Sanco.
While DG Sanco (and Mr Dalli) are big winners, DG Enterprise and Industry (and the commissioner-designate for Industry and Entrepreneurship, Italian nominee Antonio Tajani) have come off very badly. As well as pharmaceuticals, DG Enterprise and Industry loses better regulation (to the Secretariat-General) and co-ordination of the Trans-Atlantic Economic Council (TEC), which goes to DG Trade. (This latter change may signal a reduction in the TEC’s influence, and a reversion of economic relations to being trade-based, rather than more broadly-based.) The only consolation for Mr Tajani is responsibility for the Galileo project, and a vice-presidency of
the Commission (albeit as 6th vice-president). In sum, DG Enterprise and Industry is now a severely emasculated part of the Commission – and perhaps no longer the powerful ‘one-stop-shop’ for companies concerned about the impact of the work of other parts of the Commission on their industry.
Karel de Gucht, a Belgian Liberal, former foreign minister, who has served briefly as Commissioner for Development, takes over the Trade portfolio. It is another big win for Belgium (after the appointment of Herman van Rompuy as President of the European Council), and for the Liberals, who lost out in the division of the EU’s top jobs. There were previously rumours that he wanted the Energy portfolio – but this has gone to the German centre-right nominee, Günther Oettinger. Germany has been somewhat fortunate to get this portfolio for someone who has never held a national
ministerial post – and Mr Oettinger will be one of those commissioners-designate most closely watched by the European Parliament when it holds its hearings. The German centre-right seems set, however, to have a big say on energy policy, with Herbert Reul MEP holding the chairmanship of the European Parliament Committee on Industry, Research and Energy.
Energy will gain a separate Directorate-General, as will Transport. State aid competences held previously in the combined DG Energy and Transport will move to DG Competition – perhaps signalling a tougher regime for energy companies and airlines. The role of Commissioner for Transport goes to the current commissioner from Estonia, Siim Kallas, who retains his vice-presidency of the Commission. His role on transparency issues will be taken by the Slovakian nominee, Maroš Šefcovic (Inter-institutional Relations and Administration) – a current Commission member, but a recent arrival in Brussels. There will be much interest during his parliamentary hearing about what he intends to do regarding the issue of lobbying transparency.
The audit and anti-fraud part of Mr Kallas’ former portfolio goes to Algirdas Šemeta (Taxation and customs union, audit and anti-fraud), the Lithuanian nominee. The Budgets and Financial Programming portfolio, currently held by Mr Šemeta, goes to Poland’s Janusz Lewandowski, who will face budget negotiations with the Parliament under the new Lisbon Treaty rules, which give the assembly control over all spending. His five years as an MEP will be an asset in this respect.
Neelie Kroes, the Dutch nominee, takes the new Digital Agenda portfolio and a vice-presidency of the Commission. She will have to move from ‘enforcement’ mode to ‘visionary’ or ‘inspirational leader’ mode and, with Mrs Reding, is seen as likely to pursue monopolies in the telecoms sector. Like the Climate Action portfolio, Mrs
Kroes’ post has a very ‘horizontal’ look about it – but she will have to manage the Commission’s internal politics, something she did not encounter so much in the more regulatory role of Commissioner for Competition.
Spanish socialist Joaquin Almunia, who currently holds the economic and monetary affairs portfolio, takes over at Competition and a vice presidency of
the Commission. Olli Rehn, the Finnish candidate, takes the Economic and Monetary
Affairs post, bringing his trademark calm assurance at a time of crisis.
Michel Barnier, a former Regional Affairs commissioner and currently a French MEP, takes the much-coveted Internal Market and Services portfolio – and control of financial services. However, there is some relief for the financial services sector (notably in the UK) as Jonathan Faull, a British official with long experience in the Commission, becomes Director-General of DG Internal Market and Services. However, France also lobbied successfully in another field – with Romanian Dacian Ciolos taking the Agriculture and Rural Development portfolio. He is thought to be more resistant to change in the Common Agricultural Policy than the current incumbent, Mariann Fischer Boel.
With the departure of Stavros Dimas, Maria Damanaki (Maritime Affairs and Fisheries) replaces him as the Greek commissioner, and Janez Potocnik (Slovenia) in the Environment portfolio – a sign of Mr Barroso’s faith in him after five years as Commissioner for Science and Research. However, Mr Potocnik’s responsibilities will be less than those of Mr Dimas, with losses to DG Climate Action and DG
Sanco, and the loss of civil protection responsibilities to DG Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) under Rumiana Zheleva, the new Bulgarian Commissioner-designate for International Co-operation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. She will work in close cooperation with Latvian Andris Piebalgs, the Commissioner for Development and erstwhile Commissioner for Energy. Mr Potocnik’s old role goes to Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, a former Irish minister and current member of the EU Court of Auditors, who becomes Commissioner-designate for Research and Innovation.
Another member of the previous Commission, Cyprus’ Androulla Vassiliou, leaves health to take up the re-modelled Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth portfolio, which gives DG Education and Culture some new responsibilities for media (from DG Information Society).
Meanwhile the Hungarian nominee, László Andor, takes on Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, and the Austrian nominee, Johannes Hahn, takes Regional Policy (one of the few portfolios to have its responsibilities left unchanged).
Štefan Füle, the Czech nominee, takes on Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy – which should be taken in countries such as Ukraine as a positive sign of the possibility of membership of the EU.
Finally, the UK’s Catherine Ashton, named as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, will be first vice-president of the Commission and responsible for External Relations.
AIR QUALITY DEADLINES
The European Commission on 11 December adopted three decisions concerning requests from Bulgaria, Poland and the United Kingdom for additional time to comply with EU legislation on air quality, relating to requests for temporary exemptions in 97 zones or agglomerations from the EU's air quality standards for dangerous airborne particles known as PM10. The decision addressed to Poland also concerned a request for a temporary postponement of the deadline to meet the Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) limit values in one zone. The Commission decisions approve time extensions for PM10 in five air quality zones in Poland but objected to all other requests. Some 17 decisions have already been adopted in 2009. The vast majority of air quality zones in the EU did not satisfy the conditions for a time extension, or were already found to be in compliance with the limit values.
The Commission has decided that in five air quality zones in Poland the notified exemptions satisfy the conditions in the Directive.
In the remaining zones in Poland, as well as all zones in Bulgaria and the United Kingdom, the Commission considered that the conditions have not been met. In many cases, this is because insufficient data has been provided or because the measures outlined in the air quality plans submitted to the Commission do not demonstrate that the standards will be met when the exemption period expires.
The Commission's assessment also shows that in some cases exemptions will not be necessary since compliance with the limit values has already been achieved. This is the case in the United Kingdom, where all air quality zones except the Greater London zone were in compliance in 2008. The Commission found the air quality plan for this particular zone did not meet the minimum requirements of the Directive for a time extension.
Where the Commission has raised objections to requests for time extensions, Member States may put forward further requests if they provide new information to demonstrate fulfilment of the conditions.
For further information on time extensions:
For further information on limit values for pollutants:
ENVIRONMENT
Most of the Environment action is concerned with the UN Copenhagen Climate Change conference and its progress (or not), which is covered comprehensively in the press in most countries. However there are one or two other items of interest.
GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION TRENDS REPORT
On 12 November the European Environment Agency released a report on greenhouse gas emission trends and projections in Europe in 209 which assesses current and projected progress of EU member states and candidate countries towards their Kyoto Protocol targets. It projects progress towards the EU target for 2020. See
POLLUTANT RELEASE AND TRANSFER REGISTER
The European Commission and EEA have launched a new European pollutant release and transfer register – E-PRTR, which contains information about the quantity and location of pollutants released to air, water and land by industrial facilities in Europe. See
REGIONAL AID
The Commission’s suggestion about easing rules on regional aid to help with the recession have been over-ruled by the national governments. The Commission had proposed making advance payments to 15 EU states from the ESF and Cohesion Funds, totally around three billion Euros, as a response to the economic crisis. Member states have agreed, however, to give themselves more time to spend EU money. The legislation is still before the European Parliament.
INTERREG
Baltic Sea Region
Third call for project applications will open on 3 January and close on 22 March.You will find invitations, practical information and agendas at Please register for the seminars at Deadline for registering for Malmö - 7 January 2010. More information see
North Sea Region
A Symposium on climate change and sustainable water management was held on 9 December in Copenhagen.
On 26-27 January in Antwerp, this region hosts a Transnational Project Development Workshop – getting ready for the 5th call. Register and submit an outline of a project idea before 18 January. See the information link at
END
AP/17 Dec 2009
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