PRODI COMMISSION

The 'Prodi Commission' was the European Commission in office between 1999 and 2004. The administration was led by then-former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

Contents

History

Commissioners

Initial College

See also

External links

References

History

The commission took office on 13 September 1999 following the scandal and subsequent resignation of the Santer Commission which had damaged the reputation of the institution. It took over from the interim Marín Commission. The College consisted of 20 Commissioners which grew to 25 following the Enlargement of the European Union in 2004. It was the last commission to see two members allocated to the larger member states.
This commission (the 10th) saw in increase in power and influence following Amsterdam Treaty. Some in the media described President Prodi as being the first "Prime Minister of the European Union".^[1][2]

As well as the enlargement and Amsterdam Treaty, the Prodi Commission also saw the signing and enforcement of the Nice Treaty as well as the conclusion and signing of the European Constitution: in which he introduced the "Convention method" of negotiation. From 1999 Prodi saw in the Euro and by 2002 it came into cash form and the single currency for 12 of the EU's 15 member states.^[3] The body was however criticised for being lacklustre, with poor communication and failing to make an impact despite major events such as enlargement and the euro.^[4]
The commission was due to leave office on 31 October, 2004, but due to opposition from the European parliament to the proposed Barroso Commission which would succeed it, it was extended and finally left office on 21 November 2004.

Commissioners

When the Commission took office in 1999, there were 25 Commissioners, one from each member state except the largest 5 states (Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom).
2004 saw 15 new Commissioners, 5 replacing existing Commissioners who had resigned before the end of their mandate and 10 from the new member states who joined in that year. Most of these Commissioners continued to serve in the following Barroso Commission.
The members from the new states shared a portfolio with an existing member, rather than creating new posts or having Commissioners (old or new) without a portfolio.
The following table indicates the number of Commissioners according to their political alignment at the start of the Commission, those who joined from the new member states and the number when the Commission left office. The colours reflect those used in the table of Commissioners below.

'Affiliation'	Left wing (PES)	Centre (ELDR)	Right wing (EPP-ED)	Green (EGP)	Independent
'1999-2003'	Eleven	One	Six	One	One
'Joined in May 04'	Zero	Two	Three	Zero	Five
'November 2004'	Nine	Five	Nine	One	Six

Initial College

Portfolio(s)	Commissioner	State	Party	Photo
President	Romano Prodi	Italy Italy	l'Ulivo/Demo PES/EDLR
Vice-President; Administrative reform	Neil Kinnock	United Kingdom Britain	Labour PES
Vice-President; Relations with the Parliament, Transport and Energy	Loyola de Palacio	Spain Spain	PP EPP
Competition	Mario Monti	Italy Italy	''independent''
Agriculture and Fisheries	Franz Fischler	Austria Austria	ÖVP EPP
Enterprise & Information Society	Erkki Liikanen ''Served until 12 July 2004''	Finland Finland	SDP PES
Enterprise & Information Society	Olli Rehn ''Served from 12 July 2004''	Finland Finland	Keskusta ELDR
Internal Market	Frits Bolkestein	Netherlands Netherlands	VVD ELDR
Research	Philippe Busquin ''Served until July 2004''	Belgium Belgium	PS PES
Research	Louis Michel ''Served from July 2004''	Belgium Belgium	MR ELDR
Development & Humanitarian Aid	Poul Nielson	Denmark Denmark	PD PES
Enlargement	Günter Verheugen	Germany Germany	SPD PES
External Relations	Chris Patten	United Kingdom United Kingdom	Conservatives ED
Trade	Pascal Lamy	France France	PS PES
Health & Consumer Protection	David Byrne	Ireland Ireland	FF EPP
Education & Culture	Viviane Reding	Luxembourg Luxembourg	CSV EPP
Budget	Michaele Schreyer	Germany Germany	Greens EGP
Environment	Margot Wallström	Sweden Sweden	SDWP PES
Justice and Home Affairs	António Vitorino	Portugal Portugal	PS PES
Employment and Social Affairs	Anna Diamantopoulou ''Served until March 2004''	Greece Greece	PASOK PES
Employment and Social Affairs	Stavros Dimas ''Served from March 2004''	Greece Greece	ND EPP
Regional Policy	Michel Barnier ''Served until April 2004''	France France	UMP EPP
Regional Policy	Jacques Barrot ''Served from April 2004''	France France	PS PES
Economic & Monetary Affairs	Pedro Solbes ''Served until 26 April 2004''	Spain Spain	PSOE PES
Economic & Monetary Affairs	Joaquín Almunia ''Served from 26 April 2004''	Spain Spain	PSOE PES

===New commissioners from 2004-05-01===

Portfolio(s)	Commissioner	State	Party	Photo
Regional Policy	Péter Balázs	Hungary Hungary	''independent''
Trade	Danuta Hübner	Poland Poland	''independent''
Economic & Monetary Affairs	Siim Kallas	Estonia Estonia	ERP ELDR
Development & Humanitarian Aid	Joe Borg	Malta Malta	PN EPP
Agriculture and Fisheries	Sandra Kalniete	Latvia Latvia	PN EPP
Education & Culture	Dalia Grybauskaitė	Lithuania Lithuania	''independent''
Enlargement	Janez Potočnik	Slovenia Slovenia	''independent''
Enterprise & Information Society	Ján Figeľ	Slovakia Slovakia	KDH EPP
Budget	Markos Kyprianou	Cyprus Cyprus	Δημοκρατικό ALDE
Health & Consumer Protection	Pavel Telička	Czech Republic Czech Republic	''independent''

See also

★ Bolkestein Directive

★ Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe

External links

★ President Prodi's Website

★ Prodi Commission profiles, portfolios and homepages

References

1. Prodi to Have Wide, New Powers as Head of the European Commission iht.com 16/04/1999
2. Commentary: Romano Prodi: Europe's First Prime Minister? (int'l edition) Businessweek.com 1999
3. Discover the former Presidents: The Prodi Commission, Europa (web portal), Accessed 23 August 2007
4. BM: The new Commission - some initial thoughts bmbrussels.be 2004