From the Independent:
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will veto any attempt by the Conservatives to appoint a Eurosceptic candidate to become Britain’s next EU Commissioner, The Independent has learnt.
As Prime Minister, David Cameron has to nominate a successor to replace Baroness Ashton, who will step down as Britain’s representative on the European Commission later this year.
But the Liberal Democrat leader has made it clear that many of the candidates favoured by the right wing of the Conservative Party who want to see “one of their own” in Brussels would be unacceptable to him and he would veto them.
The article goes on to name people like Owen Paterson and Liam Fox who would not be approved by the Deputy Prime Minister. So whose names are in the frame?
However, Liberal Democrat sources suggested the party might be content to see Mr Cameron appoint the former Chief Whip, Andrew Mitchell, to the job, or the current Leader of Commons, Andrew Lansley. “We need someone in Brussels who is not going to shout from the side lines but is going to actively engage and work hard,” said a Liberal Democrat source.
“We don’t think it would be in Britain’s interest to use the job as a bully pulpit to attack Brussels rather than working constructively to protect our interests.”
It is disappointing that every single name touted by the paper for a job is a man. There are plenty good women, Sharon Bowles being the most obvious Liberal Democrat example, who could do this job.
There are areas of agreement between Clegg and Cameron, though.
One area where Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg are in agreement is on the need for Britain to secure one of the trade and business briefs in the new Commission. In particular they have their eye on the Internal Market and Services portfolio which is currently held by the French representative, Michel Barnier.
The decision has to be made by this Autumn.
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8 Comments
“In particular they have their eye on the Internal Market and Services portfolio which is currently held by the French representative, Michel Barnier.”
This post has until recently been held exclusively by a Brit, and deemed important for the roles ability to upload anglo-saxon style capitalism into the single-markets DNA.
Labour gave up this position in order to instal Ashton in the Foriegn Office style position, hence France got Barnier the position and we ended up with idiotic proposals for Tobin taxes and Banker salary/bonus ratios.
It has yet to be demonstrated that this trade-off benefited Britain…
Jedibeeftrix
So-called Anglo Saxon capitalism has given us an endless reign of apparently criminal fixing: fixing exchange rates, gold prices, interest rates and Libor, commodity prices, pension-looting, housing bubbles, the transfer of losses to taxpayers and gains to the rich etc. y a self-regulated (i.e. unregulated) financial system. EU proposed controls are far too feeble, and the general failure to prosecute criminal offences or resist the parasitic Finance lobby suggest we have a purchased parliament, perhaps.
The best reply to imaginary “Anglo-Saxon” (really US/global) primitive capitalism is a rich choice of Anglo-Saxon words!
In addition to the light-touch regulation you find so odious, I also use the term to represent the relatively free-er market bent than is evident in social democracies over the water.
I find myself quite comfortable with it.
😉
There is no need for Nick to veto. The European Parliament would use their powers and reject such a candidate by an overwhelming majority.
Cameron is not a committed Eurosceptic, so I’m sure he will find someone acceptable to us. Ken Clarke would be a good compromise.
lol, he s party would crucify him if Clarke got anywhere near a commissioner job!
It is vitally important that the successor to Cathy Ashton has to comply with two important criteria that must be uppermost in the future minds of all those British voters to namely, argue for the inclusion of the UK ( post Scottish Question) as a senior active member of the EU, with main concerns to engineer reforms based on border controls,international arrest warrant and to ensure that the 3 millions in the national economy and 300,000 in London, are kept in jobs over decades.
I advocate a Liberal Democrat proof read applicant for this important EU economic task vetted by the DPM.
“with main concerns to engineer reforms based on border controls”
Should I parse that as: “get Britain into Schenghen”?