When the President-elect of the EU Commission proposed the line-up of his team, the assignment of Malta’s commissioner-designate to a portfolio that includes protection of migrating birds and conservation of natural habitats caused a stir locally.
Eyebrows were raised and censorious comments made before our man had time to digest his job description. The fact that the portfolio also covers sustainable tuna fishing did not attract similar comment.
This was not the only counter-intuitive assignment by Jean-Claude Juncker. Migration was allocated to a candidate from Greece, whose record in hosting irregular migrants is not glorious; climate change to a Spaniard with family interests in petroleum business; and – irony of ironies – financial probity to the nominee of France, which has consistently failed to meet the euro countries’ target of keeping national budget deficits at or below three per cent of GDP.
Were these simply signs that Juncker possesses a wry sense of humour? Or was he following the adage that poachers can become good gamekeepers, since they know what happens on the other side of the fence?
Be that as it may, the novelty of Juncker’s proposals is not so much the team as the game plan. Recognising that a 28-member ‘board of directors’ is unwieldy, the plan provides for most commissioners to be subordinated to one or more vice presidents. That should encourage greater coherence.
It is the political complexion of the seven vice presidencies that fascinates, however. The key post of first vice president (essentially deputy president) is attributed to a Dutchman.
Four of the five supervisory vice presidents are from the German-inspired eastward enlargement of 2004-2007; the fifth is from Finland. Four of the five – this time including the Finn – were serving national prime ministers earlier this year.
The ‘Club Med’ southerners provide the externally-visible High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy from Italy but are noticeably out of the running of the Juncker machine.
Of course, commissioners from the heavyweight countries that do not figure in the supervisory structure will find ways of mobilising leverage. The others will have to fend for themselves.
Let us give our guy a chance to prove his worth
And how – one may ask – will the primus inter pares, Germany, make its weight felt? Surely not through the wonkish portfolio of Digital Economy and Society assigned to its commissioner-designate.
Possibly through the affinity of the vice presidents to the German view of things? And, presumably, through a hotline between President Juncker and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. One can surmise that the Juncker Commission will reinforce the projection of Merkel’s vision.
Merkel is, more than ever, the key actor in the EU. She leads a ‘grand coalition’ government of the country that gave us the shining European success story of the second half of the 20th century.
Confronting the horrors of its Nazi period, German society rebuilt itself physically, economically, politically and morally. Its confidence in itself became the foundation of its democratic unity.
This achievement stands out against the difficulty of other European countries to come to terms with past and present realities. Think of Spain’s reluctance to dig up the bones of its civil war, France’s annual celebration of ‘Victory’ on May 8 and – on another level – the sad sound of my fellow ‘Engerland’ football supporters chanting the ‘Dam Busters’ march while Germany collects the trophies.
Yet, German society has not yet exorcised the ghosts of the hyperinflation of the 1920s. These drive its gut preference for financial austerity over promotion of economic growth in current policy debates in the eurozone.
The economic turbulence that followed World War I was, indeed, the platform for Adolf Hitler’s rise. But historians and economists argue whether it was the depression and unemployment of the 1930s that was his launch pad, rather than the preceding inflation.
Today, at any rate, it is the growth of unemployment, notably of young adults, that underlies the xenophobic nationalism and extremism that have been creeping into the EU polity. The Greek case illustrates the phenomenon.
Is it time for Merkel and her fellow coalition leaders to launch a debate on lessons learned from Germany’s economic history, in order to shape a positive vision for the wellbeing of that country and of the EU as a whole?
Something to ponder as the debate on the Juncker Commission grabs the headlines…
Meanwhile, turning back to the home front, let us give our guy a chance to prove his worth. He has done so across the political spectrum at home. Surely, he has the capacity to do it in Brussels.
Lino Spiteri’s column is not appearing this week.