Oslo post still empty

Date: 11/01/1996

You can't accuse the Commission of rushing into things: it is a year since there was first talk of appointing a new Commission representative in Oslo, and a full six months since the post became vacant on the departure of Nye Hughes to take over the running of the Australia office.

Yet the top Commission job in Norway is still empty and, given the Norwegians' mixed feelings about the EU, it might be a help if someone sent a more positive signal by filling the vacancy sooner rather than later.

Foreign Affairs Commissioner Hans van den Broek's spokesman Nico Wegter was slated to go a year ago, but is still in Brussels. Apparently Van Den Broek is not keen to move Wegter before a suitable replacement is found and that has not been easy.

Several applicants have been rejected - testimony indeed to Wegter's skills: he attends policy meetings beyond the normal function of a spokesman and has thus rendered himself virtually indispensable.