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04. 09. 09. - 13:00

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04. 09. 09. - 13:00

EC denies report about Gusenbauer as EU commissioner

By Lisa Chapman

The European Commission (EC) has denied reports its president wants former Social Democratic (SPÖ) Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer to be Austria’s next EU commissioner.

Johannes Laitenberger, a spokesman for EC President Jose Manuel Barroso, said yesterday (Thurs) the claim made in Vienna newspaper Kurier was inaccurate.

"We deny such rumours," Laitenberger said.

He said EU member states, not the EC president, had the right to nominate commissioners but added the formation of the next EC would have to wait until after the next EC president is elected.

The European Parliament (EP) is expected to vote on a second term for Barroso on 16 September.

In its report yesterday, Kurier 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 off, forcing ÖVP whip Karlheinz Kopf to say publicly the ÖVP had discussed the plan to send Molterer to Brussels with Faymann and to appeal to the chancellor to stick by his word.

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

Austrian Times

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