>Guest Post Mary-Ellen Synon – On THE EU Fraud

By now, we are getting news that Andrew Lansley has been slated for the post but, even without that, the problem with that plan is, of course, that not even a British prime minister has the power to hand anyone a role as commissioner. The Lisbon Treaty gives the EU institutions all kinds of powers to stop a Government putting an unsympathetic individual at the top of the commission.

The first hurdle is that even if Cameron were to nominate Paterson, Fox or Lilley as the replacement for Catherine Ashton, the new president of the European Commission would have been able to warn Cameron privately that he found the nominee obnoxious.

Should Cameron have persisted, the president would make it clear the nominee would be given a portfolio so obscure that after the first six months of the new commission, few in the Brussels press corps would be able to name Britain’s man at the Berlaymont. The European Council may have to agree the nominations, but the president of the commission has complete power to decide who gets which job.

If you doubt how obscure some commissioners can be, ask yourself if you have any idea who these commissioners are and what they do: Nevin Mimica, Johannes Hahn, Maire Geoghehan Quinn. Influence depends on the portfolio. The president also has the power to force the resignation of any commissioner, should an awkward Eurosceptic finally make to the “college”, as it is called, of commissioners.

The second hurdle is the European Parliament. It must be consulted on the appointment. The MEPs just love exercising this power. If any national government does not bow to their “recommendation”, the parliament has the power to reject the entire commission. In 2004, the parliament forced the Italian prime minister to withdraw his appointment of the excellent Rocco Buttiglione as commissioner.

Their reason was because the commissioner was an observant Catholic who refused to renounce his church’s teaching that homosexuality was a sin (Buttiglione had a liberal history in regard to public policy on homosexuality, but simply holding a private religious view on sin was considered a disqualification for a commissioner).

As if this was not enough, there is a third hurdle. New commissioners have to stand before the European Court of Justice and give a “solemn declaration” – in effect, take a secular oath – that they will uphold all the principles and values enshrined in the treaties (which of course includes the principle of ever-closer union and the free movement of people) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. 

The new commissioner must also promise to be independent of any government, even the government of his own country, and accept the principle of Cabinet responsibility by which the commission is run.