Verheugen comments spark EU controversy

Günter Verheugen has triggered a row within the European commission after suggesting that smaller countries give up their right to have an EU commissioner.

The EU industry commissioner argued that the commission – which now has 27 members with new arrivals Romania and Bulgaria – has become too unwieldy.

He said some of the member states should make do with more junior jobs on the executive.

“It is better for a small member state to have a deputy commissioner in an important field than a commissioner who deals only with marginal topics,” Verheugen told German television last week.

His comments were an apparent reference to the case of Leonard Orban, the Romanian who is taking on the newly-created post of commissioner for multilingualism – a post criticised by many as being minor and lacking political influence.

The comments have revived the debate over how to organise the commission in future, particularly when more countries join.

So far, every EU country has one commissioner; but the EU’s Nice Treaty says the commission should not exceed 27 members after 2009.

But Verheugen’s remarks have triggered an angry reaction from several of his colleagues, and caused splits within the commission.

Finnish commissioner Olli Rehn rejected the proposal, saying it “does not fit into the principles of the EU, according to which member states are equally represented in decision-making”.

“There is suspicion among small countries that the large ones would roll over us", Rehn added.

His words were echoed by Polish commissioner Danuta Hubner, who called the idea “groundless and unacceptable.”

As for the commission, it has distanced itself from Verheugen’s comments, saying they “were his personal views and do not represent the policy line of the commission”.

Meanwhile socialist MEP Jo Leinen, the chairman of parliament’s constitutional affairs committee, has welcomed Verheugen’s comments.

“The European commission needs a reform of its structure,” Leinen said, pointing to the clause in the Nice Treaty limiting commissioners to 27.

“The analysis by commissioner Verheugen is therefore correct and his ideas should be supported,” he added.

“The EU needs a commission that is able to act.”

Responding to concerns over whether the smaller countries would be flouted, Leinen argued that “the structure of any commission should always reflect the entire EU with all its big and small, old and new member states.”

“This implies that it is possible that not all big member states always have a commissioner for one commission term.”

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