Barnier suggests 'Secretary of State' for the EU
By Honor Mahony
In an interview with Le Figaro, the regional policy Commissioner, Michel Barnier, said that a directoire of four to five member states running Europe is "fundamentally against the European project." It would be a mistake to weaken the "coherence and the unity of the Commission."
The regional Commissioner, who is also in charge of institutional reform and a member of the Convention's steering committee, said that a directoire is something that the "Germans wish." and that although such a model could succeed in Germany with its many Länder (regions), or in the United States, it would not in the EU due to its nature. "We are not a European nation divided in 27 states," said the Commissioner speaking of an enlarged EU, "we are 27 states, who all want to maintain their differences and their identity but who want to share a growing part of their sovereignty."
Secretary of state for the European Union
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Echoing calls from other quarters of the European Union, Mr Barnier suggests that the problem of external representation of the EU could be solved by merging the posts of the external relations Commissioner (currently occupied by Chris Patten) and the High Representative post (occupied by Javier Solana). This person, who could be called the "Secretary of the European Union" and would play a similar role to the US secretary of state. In addition the secretary, while being a member of the Commission, would be answerable to the Council.
The person would hold the post for five years (the same length as one Commission term.) Their would be suggested by member state governments but would have to be approved by the European parliament. The Commissioner suggests their main competence would be in the area of defence.
Council president would \"aggravate\" Commission-Council rivalry
He rejected the idea supported by French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for a president of the Council elected for four years as something which would "aggravate" the rivalry between the Council and Commission - "something which Europe does not need at the moment."
A reduction of the number of commissioners, set to rise from the current 20 to 27 with enlargement, to just six, as suggested by Le Figaro was rejected by Mr Barnier. "That is an impossible reduction, because all member states have to have confidence in the Commission."
