McCreevy the only European commissioner to receive warm welcome
In many walks of life it could be assumed to be the incompetent. But in this case it’s the politician.
The case in question is the European Parliament and more specifically their report on the European Commissioners designates they interviewed during the past three weeks.
The politician in question is none other than Charlie McCreevy, former Finance Minister in the Irish Government. The reason he is the odd one out is that all the others have been criticised by the Parliament following their hearings.
Mr McCreevy, the politician, got a very positive letter of recommendation from the MEPs who put him through his paces.
The MEPs had reservations about the others.
In some cases the would-be commissioners were in trouble before they began.
Take for instance the Danish nominee, Nellie Kroes. The 63-year-old former government minister was being given the competition portfolio by the incoming commission president, Jose Manual Barroso.
A look at the two pages of companies which she has been a member or involved in would lead one to think she was the kind of person leaders of the member states would love, given the obsession with business.
She shed herself of all her seats on boards and sold all her shares, but got a very rough ride from the MEPs, and the Socialists still fear she will be involved in conflicts of interests that could land the EU in trouble, especially when she has to take on the US.
Then there is Mariann Fischer Boel, the Danish nominee and Commissioner designate for Agriculture and Rural Development.
The Danes considered the 61-year-old farmer got a spectacularly good fisheries deal for them from the European Commission as minister.
However, she too did not rise to the expectations of the MEPs, and Socialists believed she was too vague on issues like sugar that will mean a lot for Europe’s farmers in the future. They don’t like the fact her farm will receive subsidies from her department.
The person getting most publicity is the Italian nominee, Rocco Buttiglione, who is due to get the justice, freedom and security job.
He was in trouble before he set foot in Brussels.
His associations, connections and views have not endeared him to all MEPs and his frankness at his hearing did not help either.
For one thing he will be in charge of the rapidly growing area of justice - the freedom and security refers to the war on crime and terror mostly while justice is deeply involved with keeping out asylum seekers and catching criminals.
Coming from Italy - which is flouting international conventions in its treatment of asylum seekers - the MEPs concerns are understandable. However some of them are concerned about his conservative Catholic values.
He believes marriage is for having babies - which he would, given the Church’s view on contraception - and that homosexuality is wrong.
He said he would fight for these views to be taken into account but, as things stand, he will not have a chance to put this into practice since the EU has no role in either issue.
So far nobody mentioned his membership of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, which has been mainly responsible for US President George Bush’s foreign policy thinking.
