The pending crisis of the Barroso Commission isn’t limited to the dust-up over all-too-aptly-named Buttiglione. Another committee of the Parliament declined to endorse Laszlo Kovacs as commissioner responsible for energy policy. And that could cause the problem to escalate.
I’m a little torn on this one. Kovacs is the Hungarian foreign minister who cut the barbed wire between his country and Austria in the summer of 1989. The hole in the Iron Curtain got wider and wider, as we all know. There’s a good case to be made that Kovacs had a more important role in the collapse of communism than a certain recently-deceased American president. (But let’s give RR a historical Oscal for best supporting actor nonetheless.) So Kovacs is one of the white hats, as post-communist political figures go, and he’s also the choice of the Hungarian government. On the other hand, even his proponents admit he doesn’t know beans about energy.
It’s not clear that the whole Parliament will vote Kovacs. If it does, then get ready for a full institutional conflict. The irresistable force of one Commissioner per country is about to meet the immovable object of some Commissioners’ clear unfitness for their portfolios. It will be a full-on test of power among Parliament, the Commission and the member states. And the outcome will be as wide open as a Florida recount.
“The irresistable force of one Commissioner per country is about to meet the immovable object of some Commissioners? clear unfitness for their portfolios.”
Good. The sooner the EU can become a more efficient body clearly appointed on fitness to each particular job, the better. Not saying I don’t want jobs spread about – that’s essential if we are to convince all countries that the European Union is a worthwhile continental project and not some ideological showboating of a Franco-German alliance. But at the same time, having commissioners who clearly aren’t suited to their jobs doesn’t help anyone. And only goes further to reinforce the feelings of disenfranchisement and unaccountability. The problem to me seems to be that in each country the European elections become more of a battle over which party’s European policy is most palatable rather than genuinely thinking what is best for Europe. Changing the structures of the EU to become far more popularly accountable, and to give the Parliament more genuine powers, would be a great positive step in this regard. A free ministerial post per country is not.
Reminds me of the British minister for transport that couldn’t even drive. Margaret Thatcher was her name.