Jose Manuel Barroso, the Pres­ident of (the) Europe(an Com­mission) has seemingly lost the will to communicate Europe – by either forgetting (doubtful) or neglecting to appoint a Commissioner for Com­mu­nication.
As it happens, DG Com­munication (COMM) will now be under Viviane Reding’s portfolio of Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship. Clearly, this signals that DG COMM cannot go on with its existing form. Though there is quite some frustration at DG COMM, a reformation of the DG has been on the cards for a while. Erroneous decisions under the leadership of Commissioner Margot Wallstrom did not take the Directorate-General to the glorious heights it deserves (because yes – communicating Europe to the Europeans is one of the most important issues the Union faces since its birth), DG COMM does indeed deserve some absolution for its failures.

Failure to Communicate?

Barroso, who announced  the designation of the portfolios for the Commissioner nominees on Friday Morning, made a few errors (some of which can obviously not be attributed to him).
In a hurry? Barroso launched the press conference, and gave a quick speech about his amazing team and how he bowed to no external pressures when deciding the portfolios (of course we are not naïve; Barroso’s re-selection by the 27 member states was not without cost to this process). But Barroso did, at least, not give the competition portfolio to Neelie Kroes again; though she made some money for the community budget, her blunder in the Roaming matter only cost the EU a few billion euros.
What did he not do? He didn’t go through each person, saying what portfolio they got, and a short comment as to why. As President, the correct thing for Europe, would have been to firstly showcase the Commissioners, and secondly explain his choices. Indeed, an hour-long presentation is not too much to ask once every 5 years is it?
Secondly, it would be nice if the whole Europa server didn’t overload during the press conference. We understand that the whole world wanted to know, but someone up there in the technical departments can predict that there will be an overwhelming overload on the system during the announcement of the portfolios. In any case, the Commission was apologetic about the problem in all of the Union’s official languages. But it is worth mentioning that I had to watch EBS on an internet site which was seemingly pirating the signal from the satellite.

Standing for our European Principles

Barroso did make a very correct statement when asked why Romania, a country with problems and frozen Agriculture funding, would be receiving that portfolio. Indeed, it is the best person for the job that should receive it, and without any discrimination to his country of origin. That of course, is because when a country nominates its Commissioner, that person then serves the interest of the Union and as a guardian of the treaties; not as a promoter of member-state interests. In practice this obviously doesn’t happen. Cabinets of Commissioners do the ‘dirty work’, having significant impact regarding their home countries, and exchanging favors with other cabinets when it comes to other DGs. No this is not a golden rule – but it is close enough.
Though Barroso claims he did not concede to any external pressures, many of the portfolios were and received. In fact, the role of Barroso was more a role of mediation between the heads of the member state rather than deciding himself. Of course that’s not what the press release reads.
And this is the essence of the problem. Cabinets rule; other commission staff blindly follows. And if they don’t, they will be cast aside; not fired, but never promoted, not disciplined, but never promoted, not having their holidays requests rejected, but never promoted. Well; maybe fired, disciplined, and have their requests rejected sometimes, on top of never being promoted. Does anyone else feel that we stand before the initial phases of a revolution? All these people need is a voice; after all, all they want is to do their jobs properly, and to defend Europe.