Wednesday 16 September 2009

The faceless Commission

Two days ago, three new Commissioners have been approved by the European Parliament, but the Commission saw no reason to announce this on its main website.

Since until now there is still no remark regarding this change on the Commission website, it'll probably never happen. So the Commission will continue to be the faceless Commission, filled with unknown personalities shaping the lives of 500 million people.

It will remain so, because if new faces and names are not properly communicated, they won't be noticed, recognised and most probably also not taken seriously.

I regard this a massive failure of the institution - and the only question I ask myself is whether this is a deliberative decision or just pure ignorance. Both cases would be fatal.

PS.: And if I may add a sentence of sarcasm: Thank you, MEPs, that you will re-elect the person responsible for all this today!

6 comments:

Insideur said...

Julien, I thought that the Commissioners were not approved until the WHOLE Commission was approved by the EP. In other words, there is still a chance that these Commissioners will not be appointed, if the EP rejects the Commission proposed by the Member States as a whole. In that context, it is legally correct for the Commission not to announce the appointment of new Commissioners at this time.

Julien Frisch said...

Maybe I am wrong, but these are Commissioners replacing those Commissioners who have left the Commission due to new jobs (President & MEP), so they belong to the "old" Commission, not to the new one.

Brussels Blogger said...

Yes, the Commissioners belong to the "old" Commission and will (as long as they are re-nominated by their respective countries) need to be re-approved in the "new" Commission.

Julien Frisch said...

But, just to clarify this: Those three have been formally approved as "new" Commissioners for the "old" Commission by the EP two days ago - and this is no news for the EC itself.

Ralf Grahn said...

Julien,

You are right, in principle: Even a lame duck Commission should be given an up-to-date presentation - at least on the Commission's web pages.

Insideur said...

aha now I understand. Yup - does seem awfully cavalier.