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03. 09. 09. - 13:00

Gusenbauer may be in running for EU commissioner post

By Lisa Chapman

Former Social Democratic (SPÖ) Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer may be in the running for the position of Austria’s next EU commissioner, according to the newspaper Kurier.

European Commission (EC) President Jose Manuel Barroso wants Gusenbauer to be Austria’s next EU commissioner, the paper claimed today (Thurs).

Kurier also said that Barroso had sent "emissaries" to Gusenbauer to ask him if he would accept the position and become an EC vice president, explaining the reason for Barroso’s initiative was to secure Social Democratic support in the European Parliament (EP) for a second term as EC president by offering influential portfolios to presentable Social Democrats.

Kurier said Barroso had told current SPÖ Chancellor Werner Faymann that Austria would have a more-influential portfolio if it nominated a Social Democrat as commissioner rather than someone from the right-of-centre People’s Party (ÖVP).

But the report was rubbished by Faymann’s office.

Angela Feigl, a spokeswoman for Faymann, said an EC president would not interfere in the internal affairs of an EU member state by telling it whom to nominate as EU commissioner and said the report was "absolute nonsense."

Gusenbauer said only that "Barroso and the Austrian government must decide who the next commissioner will be."

One problem is that Faymann had earlier told the ÖVP it could nominate Austria’s next EU commissioner, and it appears the ÖVP has settled on former Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Wilhelm Molterer.

When opposition in the SPÖ to Faymann’s decision began to surface, he backed of, forcing ÖVP whip Karlheinz Kopf to say publicly the ÖVP had discussed the plan to send Molterer to Brussels with Faymann and appealed to the chancellor to stick by his word.

But Faymann said: "It is too early to discuss names."

Yet there has been public discussion of them, which has angered Former Austrian EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler. He blasted the federal government for its handling of the naming of Austria’s next EU commissioner only last month.

Fischler said in an interview in Kurier that the government’s approach had been typically Austrian – to put the cart before the horse.

"Public discussion of who the next Austrian EU commissioner should be is premature. It is important to seek contact with the EU commission president to find out which portfolio Austria might get," Fischler said.

The ÖVP has chosen Austria’s EU commissioners since the country joined the European Union in 1995. Fischler was Commissioner for Agriculture from 1995 to 2004. Benita Ferrero-Waldner was named EU Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy in 2004. Her term will expire next month.

Austrian Times

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