A year after becoming European commissioner, the performance of Malta’s top man in Brussels, John Dalli, was judged as being “ average”, on a par with his boss, Josè Manuel Barroso, but not as good as some of his colleagues.
According to the results of a survey conducted by BursonMarsteller, a leading global public affairs and communications consultancy, on the first birthday of the second EU Executive led by Mr Barroso, Mr Dalli was given a C+, described as average in an A to E ranking.
The survey polled 320 EU insiders, mostly EU officials , MEPs, journalists and NGOs.
According to the results, Mr Dalli needs to do “ much better” and has to deliver more on some of the policy areas he is responsible f or , particularly genetic modified organisms (GMOs), nanotechnology and animal cloning.
The best performers of the 27 commissioners are Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding, a Luxembourger, and the Dutch Commissioner responsible for the digital agenda, Nellie Kroes, with women getting a best in class B+.
Other commissioners deemed satisfactory were Joaquin Almunia (Spain), Janez Potocnik (Slovenia), Olli Rehn (Finland), Michel Barnier (France) and Kristalina Geor gieva (Bulgaria). They were all given B.
The worst overall performer is the UK’s Catherine Ashton who, incidentally, also occupies one of the most important portfolios, that of foreign affairs. The pollsters gave her an E mark – disappointing.
The overall conclusion of the survey is that there is significant room for improvement.
Some 62 per cent of respondents felt the Commission’s overall performance was average or below average and 18 per cent thought it was disappointing.
David Earnshaw, CEO of Burson-Marsteller Brussels, said: “ It is still early days for the Barroso II Commission and there is still time for them to pull their socks up. However, on current perceptions, people have real concerns about whether this Commission is capable of doing its job effectively.”
Mr Dalli is the second Maltese to occupy the post of European commissioner since Malta joined the EU in 2004.