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| Europe |
| The New Europe: new Euro Commission leaders shift away from Germany, France |
| 2004-08-16 |
| Since the European Union's birth almost 50 years ago, the Franco-German axis has been driving its agenda. So when the new president of the European Commission announced the composition of his Commission late last week, it marked the end of an era. yes - but it didn't get much press here. wonder why??? As Jose Manuel Barroso read the names of the Commissioners he had chosen for the key portfolios, it became clear that the center of gravity has shifted. France and Germany are no longer calling the shots. Almost none of the duo's central demands were met while all important economic positions went to avowed free-marketers. It all began when 10 new members, mostly from the former Communist East, joined the EU in May. In contrast to Paris and Berlin, the newcomers pursue largely free-market policies and support the U.S. war in Iraq. Heralding that tectonic shift in the balance of power was Mr. Barroso's own nomination in June. France and Germany had pushed for Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. Particularly in foreign policy, Belgium had been toeing the Franco-German line. But in this new Europe, Portugal's Prime Minister was chosen instead. With his free-market credentials and support of the U.S. war in Iraq, it was hard to imagine a greater setback for the Franco-German ambitions in Europe than Mr. Barroso's nomination. But last week it got even worse for Berlin and Paris. When they couldn't push through Mr. Verhofstadt, France and Germany demanded to be compensated with key economic posts. France lobbied hard to get the competition position, probably the most important portfolio. Paris has had many run-ins with current Competition Commissioner Mario Monti, who tried to curtail the billions of euros of illegal subsides propping up ailing French national champions. But the job went to Neelie Kroes-Smit from the Netherlands. The 63-year-old Ms. Kroes-Smit belongs to the free-market Liberal Party and as transport minister in the 1980s supervised the privatization of the former state-owned postal and telephone monopoly Dutch PTT. French Commissioner Jacques Barrot, meanwhile, received the rather minor transport portfolio (from which energy policy was subtracted and handed to a Hungarian). Heh Berlin didn't fare much better. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had wanted his man, GÃŒnter Verheugen, to become a kind of "super commissioner," responsible not only for industrial policy but also for overseeing competition, taxation and internal market polices. In the end, he got just the industrial policy portfolio and lacks any of the special powers Mr. Schroeder craved. Britain was the only big country to receive an important portfolio, underlining its central role in this new Europe. Fancy that! Peter Mandelson, a close ally of Tony Blair, will be responsible for trade. The important internal market position went to Ireland's former Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy. What better man to tear down the last obstacles to free trade and the free movement of capital and people in Europe than the man whose supply-side policies helped steer Ireland toward 8% growth rates? Taxation was split off from internal markets portfolio and given to Latvia's Ingrida Udre. Mr. Barroso could have hardly sent a clearer message to France and Berlin that they are wasting everybody's time with their calls for a Europe-wide minimum tax to stop tax competition from the East. Chuckle Latvia adopted a 25% flat tax almost 10 years ago and experienced economic growth rates averaging over 6% during the past five years. Our only concern would be with the appointment of Benita Ferrero-Waldner as external affairs commissioner. We are not sure whether Austria's foreign minister is best qualified for Europe's most important foreign policy need, repairing relations with the U.S. We hope that Mr. Barosso's own strong belief in the importance of the trans-Atlantic relations will prevail. That aside, clearly the U.S., and Europe itself, will be dealing with a very different Commission in the months ahead. |
| Posted by:too true |
| #2 Perhaps if the EU superentity was as democratic as the member states France and Germany could use their larger populations to ensure some positions. |
| Posted by: Yank 2004-08-16 8:19:53 PM |
| #1 What happens if Europe really does get its act together. We may never get a vacation. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-08-16 8:09:20 PM |