A colleague visited recently from the FT’s London mothership, and a few of us took him out to sample some hearty Belgian fare.

Over his beer and stoemp (bangers and mash, Belgian-style) he asked who in the Brussels machine was the ultimate dinner party guest. A member of the European parliament, a national ambassador to the EU, or a European commissioner?

The consensus was that with Brussels dancing to the beat of the European Commission (the EU executive), commissioners were at the top of the pecking order.

Granted, not all commissioners’ roles are equal. Holding the EU education and training portfolio (where the union has only a small role)  hardly has the same cachet as, say, the competition supremo job which gives Neelie Kroes, the incumbent, the power to take on companies such as Microsoft.

But now this Commission has entered its final year and a half, and some of its members have already jumped ship. Markos Kyprianou, formerly health commissioner, has returned to Cyprus to become its foreign minister. Franco Frattini, justice commissioner, is on unpaid leave to participate in this month’s elections in his native Italy.

One of the best stories in town over the next year will be the manoeuvring over roles in the next Commission.

Belgium has already acted, with Karel De Gucht, foreign minister, apparently lined up to be its new representative under a deal to form the country’s newly-installed coalition government.

A second term looks unlikely for those commissioners whose political masters have changed - such as Peter Mandelson (UK, trade). And what fate awaits those who have already served in two Commissions? This includes headline-making Viviane Reding (Luxembourg, telecoms).

Which countries will get the lighter portfolios - such as multilingualism (currently held by Romania) and which will be rewarded with the heavyweight ones - including competition, internal market and enlargement (taken at present by the Netherlands, Ireland and Finland, respectively)? Commissioners are, after all, the most visible national representatives in Brussels.

What will members of the current team do in their post-Brussels life? Cash in on their former roles by taking lucrative corporate jobs, or slip into obscurity?

Will President Barroso, a Portuguese liberal, whom Tony Blair helped into office in 2004 in the face of Franco-German opposition, win a second term at the helm of the Commission now that Brown, Sarkozy and Merkel are in power? My feeling is that he will. But there remains plenty to ponder over the beer and stoemp.

April 3rd, 2008 in Brussels, Commission, EU commissioners | Permalink