Caretaker commissioners

The longstanding plan to reduce the size of the European Commission has just succeeded beyond all expectations but not quite as intended.

Legally there is now only one commissioner, José Manuel Barroso, who was recently re-appointed as President according to the procedure laid down in the treaties.

The five-year terms of the other 26 persons who were previously commissioners expired at midnight on Saturday, October 31, and legally those posts must now be vacant.

The claim that their terms have been extended for a few months has no legal basis, as the treaties do not provide for the discretionary prolongation of the term of any Commissioner, under any circumstances and whether in a full or a so-called "caretaker" capacity.

Obviously there could be potentially serious consequences if those 26 individuals continue to draw salaries to which they are not entitled, while unlawfully purporting to carry out the functions of a European commissioner without possessing that status.

Most importantly, all their actions and decisions would be open to challenge in the courts and could be declared null and void.