SANTER TAKES TIME CIRCLING THE BASKET
DATELINE Brussels: European President Jacques Santer may benefit from the shrewd counsel of a New Year letter, writes Lionel Barber
In one week's time, the Santer Commission will be one year old. How is the team doing? Here is Chancellor Helmut Kohl, a recent critic, who offered his thoughts in a New Year message to President Santer.
"Lieber Jacques ! So, our plan worked. All those people who thought I was hammering the Commission at last month's summit in Madrid got it wrong.
"My goal was to strengthen your authority in the run-up to this year's inter-governmental conference. We both know how unpredictable our friend is in Paris, and John M. may not last the year. I believe the Bonn-Brussels axis is central as we drive forward to a united Europe. Forgive me, then, if I offer you a few words of friendly advice and encouragement for 1996.
"Dear Jacques, the joke is that you are only primus inter 20 prima donnas; but, seriously, some of your fellow Commissioners are crying out for the firm smack of leadership. Just thinking about Frau Bjerregaard's Brussels diary makes me splutter. As for Neil Kinnock and his thoughts on eastern enlargement and monetary union, I wonder sometimes whether his horizons stretch mmuch beyond the Welsh valleys. Therefore, I am delighted that you and Commissioner Yves Thibault de Silguy are setting up next week's conference on Emu in Brussels. De Silguy is a bright fellow, but we must guard agains excessive enthusiasm. I have told Hans at the Bundesbank to keep up the tough talk on the convergence criteria. Otherwise we can all say Auf Wiedersehen to the Euro.
"Looking back, I'm delighted with the performance of Monika Wulf-Mathies and Franz Fischler. (Let's leave aside Martin Bangemann: it's hard to see how such a big man could be so invisible!) Monika and Franz are the work-horses in your team. They're decent and competent with first-rate teams steering the most sensitive policies. Without reform of the common agricultural policy and regional aid, eastern enlargement will fail, but we must reform by stealth.
"The two other heavyweights are Karel van Miert and Sir Leon Brittan. Karel is clamping down on cartels, and he squeezed us on the France Telecom/Deutsche Telekom Atlas joint venture. He plays the Brussels press like a violin.
"Sir Leon is also a mediameister. Occasionally; I ask myself whether he's itching for a bigger job, particularly after he flirted with the Nato vacancy. But you cannot keep a good man down. The interim deal on financial sservices liberalisation was crucial, and his action programme on transatlantic co-operation looks promising. His test this year is to make the US and Asian stratey work.
"I am not so sure about some of the "Club Med" Commissioners. The two Spaniards -Manuel Marin and Manuel Oreja- need watching. Manuel M. is as canny as ever in collecting money for Spanish causes. His latest gambit is to use EU aid to push reform in Cuba, but are the Americans on board? Manuel O. is bright but a bit of a windbag, especially when it comes to talking about the IGC. Joao de Deus Pinheiro, the Portuguese, is handicapped by his interest in golf - but he has an important trade brief with South Africa.
"I am more impressed with Gregor Papoutsis, the Greek who handles energy and toursm, and his chief of staff. They almost pulled off a deal on energy deregulation at and of 1995. It may not amount to much, but the monopolists in France and Germany are to blame for the delay. As for the Italias, Mario Monti is super-intelligent. give him credit for pushing a frontier-free Europe and for sacking that uppity Englishman who headed the VAT section; but he needs to be less sensitive about press criticism.
"Mario should take a leaf out of Emma bonino's book. She was probably the star in your team in 1995, a rent-a- quote radical who clocked up pore frequent flier miles than Amelia Erhart; she even managed to make the turbot war with Canada sound glamorous, and her humanitarian work in Rwanda and Burundi was admirable. The other impressive debutant was Erkki Liikanen, the Finn who handles the budget. He and Anita Gradin, the Swede, are slowly changing the Commission's spendthrift habits.
"Three Commissioners remain a mystery to me. Padraig Flynn, the twinkling Irishman in charge of social policy. Surely someone will spot the gap between what he says and what he actually delivers. Edith Cresson is struggling to make her mark in Brussels, but sh's a lot savvier than many of her colleagues. Hans van den Broek took his eye off the enlargement dossier, worrying about the Americans sidelining the EU in the Balkans. But he should do better in 1996.
"As for you, dear Jacques, you will be judged by three subjects: enlargement, the IGC and Emu. Two out of three and you're a hero.
"You like to describe yourself as a basketball player, waiting for the right moment to shoot. Fine, but don't run out of time".
