Adapting to the new reality

Date: 21/12/1995

By Rory Watson

THE past year has been something of a watershed for the European Commission.

A virtue is now being made out of the fact that the flow of legislation it issues is becoming a trickle, a degree of modesty which would have been impossible a few years ago.

A clutch of factors explains this change. The first undoubtedly lies in the wider political climate. Rightly or wrongly, the EU is unpopu- lar and, for many people, the Commission personifies the EU. Discretion is now the better part of valour.

Current Commission President Jacques Santer is better suited to weather the existing conditions than his predecessor Jacques Delors. As a prime minister for over a decade, Santer has brought a sharper understanding of his former colleagues' concerns.

Finally, there is the looming Intergovernmental Conference and a determination by the Commission not to allow critics any chance to nibble away at its fundamental role as the initiator and supervisor of EU legislation, and honest broker between competing interests.

There is no surer weather vane of this atmospheric change than the attitude of the UK government towards the institution. Earlier this month, as the final preparations were being made for the Madrid summit, senior British officials repeatedly commended the Commission for the quality of the reports it had prepared for EU leaders. It is a far cry from earlier criticism that it was trying to run too fast.

The change is all the more surprising given that the Commission, which took up office in January, is overflowing with former prime ministers, foreign ministers, sundry other ministers and ex-MEPs. There is no shortage of political skill and experience in the new team, and they might therefore have been expected to be even more pro-active than their predecessors.

Indeed, the current Commission is unique in many ways. It has more members (20), more women (5) and more former MEPs (7) than any of its predecessors. It will also be in office longer (five years instead of the previous four).

But over the past year it has had to adapt to pressures from which earlier Commissions were spared and has been forced to tread a difficult line between MEPs who generally want more EU action, and governments who usually want less.

As the year opened, relations with the European Parliament were strained. Some Commissioners reacted badly to the fact that they had to submit to cross-examination by MEPs and wait three weeks before taking up office. But, in general, bridges have been built, with Commissioners and their staff now devoting more of their time to parliamentary requests and business than in the past.

A clear indication of the changed relationship is the Commission's policy of announcing initiatives, whenever possible, to MEPs before explaining them to the media.

Another demonstration of this trend was Santer's decision to unveil the Commission's 1996 work programme to MEPs last month, instead of waiting until February 1996, as usual, in order to allow them an input into the exercise.

While keeping one eye on the Parliament, the Commission keeps the other on EU governments and no more so than on the whole issue of subsidiarity. Santer and

the Commission Secretary-General David Williamson have spent the past year drumming into staff the general motto of “do less, but do it better”. The first question invariably asked when ideas for draft legislation are raised these days is whether the Union really can handle such issues better than member states.

That approach has led to just 26 proposed items of legislation this year - with some of those not yet on the table - and only 19 for next year. The figure is somewhat misleading, however, as a number of areas the Commission has marked out for discussion with outside interests may eventually lead to legislation.

Consultation has been another of the hallmarks of the past year. The Commission is actively encouraging, through a series of Green and White Papers, a dialogue with professions and bodies before legislation is drafted and becomes harder to change.

But not everyone has taken to the new regime. Some senior officials used to the intellectual challenge of drafting legislation find it hard to adapt to the different skills required in ensuring its enforcement. Others find it frustrating when initiatives and ideas are sat on for fear that they may provoke criticism from governments. But, for many, that is a price worth paying as Santer continues to steer the Commission in a different direction.

1995 has also witnessed a resurgence of the principle of 'collegiality', a concept close to Santer's heart. There is more emphasis on teamwork and a handful of subcommittees have been created to bring together Commissioners with potentially overlapping portfolios. According to participants, they help to defuse possible disputes before they come to the full Commission.

With rare exceptions, most notably Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock's recent remarks on enlargement and a single currency and Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard's Brussels diaries, the cautious and collegiate line has held over the past year.

The penalty has been that with just two exceptions - Bjerregaard and Italian Commissioner Emma Bonino - no Commissioner has succeeded in raising his or her public profile this year. But if that is the price to be paid for restoring the Commission's image, Santer for one will be happy with the past year's developments.