Polish commissioner to play small role in big money plans - Main contents
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Poland's ace card in talks on post-2013 EU spending - Polish politician and budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski i - is to play only a minor role in the process according to a leaked commission letter.
The memo, signed by the commission's top civil servant, Catherine Day, and sent out to all heads of department in the Brussels body, says that Mr Lewandowski will not take charge of drafting the post-2013 budget but will instead be part of a committee reporting to herself and commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.
"A group of budgetary commissioners under the directorship of Mr Barroso will steer preparatory work on the multi-annual financial framework," the text, seen by Polish daily Rzeczpospolita, says.
Mr Lewandowski and his spokesman have played down the significance of the arrangements.
"After holding some meetings, I am sure that a lot will depend on us," Mr Lewandowski told the Polish newspaper, referring to his office. His spokesman, Patrizio Fiorilli, confirmed to EUobserver that the steering group is being set up, but noted: "For me, it's common practice that when you have a proposal which covers several portfolios, you have a group of relevant commissioners working together."
"I don't think the word 'demoted' or 'promoted' is relevant here," Mr Fiorilli added, in reference to the Rzeczpospolita headline on Mr Lewandowski's "demotion."
The commission's multi-billion-euro draft budget for 2013 to 2020 is to be put forward in June for initial discussion by member states and MEPs.
Under EU rules, commissioners must lay aside their national interests and act in the common good once they take up their post in Brussels. But in practice EU countries lobby to get top portfolios for their emissaries in order to help shape decisions and to get privileged access to information.
Poland, the sixth largest EU country, did not get much beyond the budget commissioner post in the 2009 carve-up of EU top jobs.
The post of EU parliament president, currently held by Pole Jerzy Buzek, is largely honorific and lasts just two and a half years.
The other senior Polish appointment, installing former Polish diplomat Maciej Popowski as a deputy secretary general in the European External Action Service, looks good on paper. But Mr Popowski is to be in charge of EEAS' relations with other EU institutions, rather than to shape EU foreign policy.
Mr Lewandowski, a centre-right politician from the same party as Polish premier Donald Tusk, earlier this week showed his colours by criticising a Franco-German competitiveness pact for the group-of-17 euro-using countries.
The pact risks creating a "two-speed Europe" he told The Times in an interview, using precisely the same phrase uttered by Mr Tusk at an EU summit last Friday.