It is amazing what a little light can do. Two lists of advisers were published by the European Commission this week. One was trotted out very happily by Jose Manuel Barroso, the president, the names of a new advisory group on energy and climate change. The other was quietly slipped out after months of pressure. It is that of the 53 special advisers to the 27 commissioners.

There are some interesting names on both. Barroso’s top team includes Peter Sutherland, ex-commissioner and chairman of BP, the energy company, and the ubiquitous Sir Nicholas Stern, whose report on the economics of climate change convinced many political skeptics.

It also boasts Nicolas Hulot, the TV presenter-turned-green-activist who has been courted by the two French presidential frontrunners, and other worthies.The two most colourful figures on the special adviser list , Rolf Linkohr and Dina Akkelidou, have already been asked to leave.

There are two former commissioners in Etienne Davignon, a Belgian businessman, and Michel Barnier, the former French foreign minister. Entrepreneurs such as Nicholas Negroponte and Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank, also feature.

Andris Piebalgs, the energy commissioner, has lost Rolf Linkohr, an ex-MEP and energy lobbyist. But he has hired a former Shell egghead who forecasts future energy demand and supply. Alfred Bressand left the energy giant in January last year and joined Mr Piebalgs pro bono three months later. He is now a professor at Columbia university in the US.

Franco Frattini, the Italian justice commissioner, has 11 advisers, all Italian. He is hoping to diversify a bit when their contracts come up for renewal at the end of the month, his spokesman said.

Bernard Fouccroulle, respected director of La Monnaie opera house in Brussels, advises Barroso on culture.

It is of course a good idea for commissioners to hear some independent views from outside the Brussels bubble: though there are at least three former MEPs on the list and not a few who shape future eurocrats by teaching at the College of Europe in Bruges. There is also a striking number of attendees to the secretive Bilderberg conference, run by Davignon, which is a lower-key - and more influential  - Davos.

Yet the taxpayer should know who they are. And there is a question mark over whether there has been full disclosure. Some commissioners apparently feel that their colleagues have been less than open. Let us know if you know something they do.

March 7th, 2007 in EU commissioners | Permalink