[autom.vertaling] De schoppen van Polen van het debat van de Commissaris (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Poland, the largest new EU member state, has started the ball rolling on the debate on which candidates the 10 accession countries will put forward as their Commissioners from 1 May 2004.

During a recent visit to Brussels, Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller suggested that the Polish Europe Minister, Danuta Hübner, could be Warsaw's Commissioner.

However, Commission President Romano Prodi reportedly suggested that Poland put forward several candidates and not just a single one.

"Mr Prodi wants to follow the lines of the new Constitution [where it suggested that member states propose three candidates]", said a Commission source.

Competent team wanted

A spokesman for the Commission said on Tuesday that Mr Prodi "would like a team made out of the best possible people, a team that is complementary and consistent with a good balance between profiles, and, of course, a good balance between men and women".

However the President has yet to formally commit on the matter.

"No decision has been taken yet as to the procedure, President Prodi will make it known to the heads of state and governments of the acceding countries ... he has not communicated the way he intends to start this discussion", continued the spokesman.

"What he does not want is to start a public discussion about this until the final decision is made".

No fixed rules

At the moment no fixed rules have been laid down on how to manage the period between 1 May to 1 November 2004.

In this period, between formal accession of the ten new member states and the stepping down of the present Commission - the current Treaty will continue to apply - meaning an extra ten Commissioners will be added to today's 20.

On 1 November, the Nice Treaty rules on Commission composition will go into place and the Commission will then be reduced in size again (to 25) as larger member states have given up their right to two Commissioners.

Sources indicate that it is unlikely that the procedure for how many candidates to nominate, and when, will be decided before the end of this year.

It also still has to be decided what these ten new Commissioner will be doing in this six-month period. All the portfolios are occupied by the present 20 Commissioners.

But in any case, article 214 of the Treaty of Nice will be applied for the final decision. This means that the proposed Commissioners shall be adopted by the Council acting by qualified majority.

The President of the Commission has to agree.