PROCEDURE FOR APPOINTMENT OF THE NEW COMMISSION

by Altiero Spinelli

SUMMARY: On the eve of the handover by the Commission presided over by Roy Jenkins to the Commission presided over by Gaston Thorn, the European Parliament examines the appointment procedure adopted by the Council, and demands that stronger political control should be established between the Community Executive and the Parliamentary Assembly, now that the latter is democratically representative as a result of the direct elections.

In that connection, in April 1980 the European Parliament passed a resolution proposed by Jean Rey, on behalf of the Political Affairs Committee, calling upon the Council and the Commission to strengthen the role of the President by granting him substantial powers regarding the choice of Commissioners and to establish political control by the Assembly by means of a vote of investiture (or of confidence) with respect to the new Commission's programme.

Neither of these demands is acted upon by the Council when the Thorn Commission is appointed. "Speeches in European Parliament, 1976-1986", Pier Virgilio Dastoli Editor. (EP, 15 October 1980)

Mr President, I cannot pretend to be in the least surprised at the way in which the Council is now approaching the appointment of the new Commission.

The appointment of the Commission has always followed the same procedure: after a few attempts, agreement is always reached among the governments of the Nine on whom to designate as President. It is of course true that the rules require the governments to act together in appointing the Commissioners, but in practice each government puts forward its own nominees, who are accepted blindly by all the other governments. To try to modify this really absurd way of staffing a collegiate body which will have to operate in harmony for four years, pressures were applied for the President to be appointed six months beforehand, not so much so that he may acquire a certain familiarity with Community affairs - if a President is appointed one is justfied in assuming that he already knows something of the Community and is thus able to take any urgent action initially required - but rather so that he may be able to carry out the preparatory work needed to form a sufficiently homogeneous Commission.

We know that Mr Jenkins has also tried to influence the method of appointing the Commission, but without much success, for the procedure I have described has continued.

Parliament, through Mr Rey's motion for a resolution, insisted that there should be a public debate in Parliament on the method of appointing the in Commission, with a view to creating a body which would then be able to face up once more to the responsibilities conferred upon it by the Treaty.

Yet the Council is not even doing what it usually did in the past. Indeed, by making the appointments at the last moment it makes it impossible for the President to exercise a choice. Moreover, it is well known that this choice is an open secret, since the names which will be proposed by the individual governments are basically already known. In this connection, I believe that the British Government has already officially nominated someone. Need I add that it is not the individual governments which should make the nominations, but the Nine acting together.

Each government is already thinking of how to bring about a certain balance by assigning this or that department of the Commission to this or that representative - something which should not occur, since it is the Commission which should collegiately establish its priorities, how to organize its own work and to distribute the responsibilities.

Parliament has asked for a chance to give its views on the method of selecting the Commission, in such a way that that body may become effective once again. The Council is doing everything it can to prevent Parliament from doing so. In my view, unless Parliament decides to react more precisely and energetically against this concept of the Community, so as to prevent the development within it of national fiefs or fiefs of particular interest groups, we shall see a further worsening of the situation and finally put Mr Thorn himself, whose European credentials neither I nor anyone else questions, in an impossible situation.