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Italy's European influence?

Frattini's resignation equals to lose the EU justice, freedom and security portfolio.
by Webeehive.com

A strong warning has been worded out to Italy's leaders by Mr. Barroso, the EU Commission President. The press statement reads that Mr. Barroso "decided" that "Vice-President Barrot, who is currently replacing Vice-President Frattini in an outstanding way" will take responsibility for the portfolio for the rest of the mandate, should Mr Frattini resign.

Why has the mighty Barroso taken such a determined decision few days ahead of the Italian newly elected parliament first session on April 29?

Italian circles in Brussels claim that Frattini’s procedural request for extending the standard leave for electoral

reasons beyond April 28 was not defendable. Albeit Mr. Frattini’s electoral absence, some remaining elements of his cabinet have been busy organizing two events on April 28: to celebrate the very new HERA foundation offering a stage for an international event on environment and security to be hosted at Berlaymont under the auspices of Mr. Frattini; "Paper Dreams" an exhibition of Italian movies posters organized by Mr. Frattini’s mentor and cabinet member, Antonio Bettanini, at Espace Monte Paschi. Isn’t it hyper activism?

Instead, with the notable exception of the still in office Italian Prime Minister Prodi, other Italian sources believe that Barroso’s decision accommodates a request from “Italian authorities” to have the post of Commissioner for Transport. These sources believe that this “grand strategy” is due to the Alitalia chaos as well as to Mr. Berlusconi’s interest in implementing the road and rail bridge between the Italian mainland and Sicily. Optimists also hope that this “grand strategy” would help unlocking the implementation of the high speed rail connections in North Italy. Would it be acceptable that an EU Commissioner for Transport “helps” its home country?

While the Italian leaders appear to be mostly locked in their domestic power game issues, a new wind is blowing in Europe. The forthcoming French Presidency and the expected Lisbon Treaty ratification are already changing the balance of forces in the European game.

France is in need to fill the Chirac’s era gap with Germany and it is preparing to display its European determined faith with a €153 million provisional expenditure cost for probably the last significant rotating EU Presidency (Blair’s UK Presidency costed allegedly €13 million). More significantly, in the past months France, Germany and the

have consolidated an intricate web of parallel and convergent interests about the future of the EU (nuclear energy; defense; broad security; judicial cooperation; fiscal; and probably monetary).

At stake is not the number of seats at the EU Parliament or the number of Commissioners or staff, but the real influence on the EU governance. Justice, freedom and security is a cornerstone of interests that transversally influences policy on most of the other EU sectors. France has immediately opted for it, discounting the traditional transport portfolio (Blair had requested the appointment of DG Mr. Faull, a prominent cabinet member in Mr. Prodi’s Commission). The new power game in the EU is no more about the allocation of the scarce post-enlargement funds, but on building alliances on the key policy and polity orientations from industry to fiscal, from monetary to security, from global to transatlantic, from consume to export.