Delors roept op tot zorgvuldige procedure bij keuze nieuwe voorzitter Europese Commissie (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Former Commission President Jacques Delors has said that it is essential that the person who takes over at the head of the European Commission in November serve member states.

"I pray ... that this is a man who has the spirit of collegiality and that he is conscious that the first duty of the president of the Commission is to be at the service of the member states".

"The more you are at the service of the member states the more you have the possibility to propose new programmes", said Mr Delors at a meeting on participative democracy on Tuesday (9 March).

The theme of who should succeed centre-left Italian Romano Prodi is one of the big issues facing EU leaders in the coming months.

Mr Prodi's term at the head of the Brussels executive - while overseeing a successful enlargement process - has been more generally characterised by a lack of clear leadership.

The Italian has also pitted the body against the biggest member states most notably by deciding, earlier this year, to take EU finance ministers to court over enforcing the euro rules.

For his part, Mr Delors presided over the Commission (1985-1995) during the heady days of European integration and oversaw the introduction of the single market and the Maastricht Treaty that paved the way to the euro.

At that time the Union had 12 member states and the prevailing attitude towards European integration was more positive.

By contrast, the atmosphere now is very different. "We live presently in a difficult climate", said Mr Delors who cited the Iraq crisis and the mistrust between large and small member states as contributing to it.