US embassy cable - 04BRUSSELS4739

UNCLAS BRUSSELS 004739 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, EUN, USEU BRUSSELS 
SUBJECT: BARROSO ANNOUNCES NEW LINE-UP FOR 
COMMISSION 
 
 
1. (U) EU Commission President-designate Barroso on 
November 4 announced a new line-up for his 
Commission.  Speaking on the fringes of the Brussels 
European Council, Barroso said he hoped the European 
Parliament would approve his new team during its 
November 15-18 plenary session after conducting 
hearings next week with the changed candidates. 
Barroso's new proposal includes only three changes: 
 
- The Italian Commissioner-designate (replacing 
 Rocco Buttiglione) will be Foreign Minister Franco 
 Frattini, who will be a Vice-President of the 
 Commission with responsibility for Justice, 
 Freedom and Security; 
 
- The Latvian Commissioner-designate (Ingrida Udre) 
 has been replaced by former Education and Finance 
 Minister Andris Piebalgs, who will take up the 
 Energy portfolio (replacing Hungarian Commissioner- 
 designate Laszlo Kovacs).  Barroso noted that 
 Piebalgs' "scientific education" would make him 
 suitable for the job; 
 
- Kovacs, will take up responsibility for Taxation 
 and Customs Union (originally Udre's portfolio). 
 While admitting that Kovacs' performance at his EP 
 hearing as Energy Commissioner was not deemed to 
 be very positive, Barroso was convinced Kovacs 
 would do better with Tax. 
 
2.  (U) Barroso "promised" these would be "necessary 
and sufficient changes" to earn the EP's approval. 
Taking questions, he defended the continued 
assignment of the Competition portfolio to Dutch 
Commissioner-designate Neelie Kroes, who responded 
to allegations about potential conflicts of interest 
"in a very transparent way."  Kroes had resigned all 
her corporate directorships, sold her shares, 
declared all her interests and pledged not to return 
to business after leaving the Commission, thus going 
beyond the ethical requirements of the job.  Barroso 
said he would meet November 5 with the leaders of 
the EP political groups to discuss practicalities 
for the next stages of the confirmation procedure. 
Barroso said he expected the EP to organize new 
hearings quickly for the three Commissioners- 
designate. 
 
3. (U) Speaking at a separate press conference 
earlier, EP President Borrell (a Spanish Socialist) 
also suggested the above calendar, with hearings 
next week, assuming the EP dispensed with the 
traditional written questionnaire in advance of 
hearings.  Borrell said he could only assume that 
the EP political groups will be able to show "as 
much flexibility as the Council (read: the EU 
governments) would have shown."  Borrell 
nevertheless served notice the EP "would not lower 
our standards" and that requirements at the new 
hearings will be the same as at the previous ones. 
According to press reports, Martin Schulz, leader of 
the EP's Socialist group (which was instrumental in 
blocking Barroso's earlier team) has welcomed 
Barroso's "enlightened and courageous step." 
 
4. (SBU) COMMENT:  For the second time, (the first 
being when he attempted to earn EP approval for his 
original team through only minor changes to 
Buttiglione's responsibilities), Barroso is choosing 
to make the minimum possible changes that could get 
him through.  It is not entirely clear whether this 
approach is a reflection of his personal philosophy 
or a function of the constraints imposed upon him by 
EU governments. But Barroso was clearly given only 
limited room for manoeuver by Member States.  He 
dropped clear hints in his press conference that 
Budapest had refused to replace Kovacs, and the 
Dutch had strongly resisted any shift of Kroes' 
responsibilities.   Based on the comments by Borrell 
and Schulz, it appears almost certain that this time 
Barroso's team will win EP confirmation, and be able 
to take office before the end of November. END 
COMMENT. 
 
SCHNABEL