Prodi appoints Irishman to top EU post

In a reshuffle aimed at boosting both its image and its internal reform process, the President of the European Commission, Mr Romano Prodi, yesterday appointed an Irish official to head the Commission and re-deployed his official spokesman.

Mr David O'Sullivan (46), currently Mr Prodi's chef de cabinet, will next month become secretary general of the Commission, the most senior EU position held by an Irish national.

He will assume responsibility for an organisation of 15,000 staff with a budget last year of £76 billion. He will be paid between £104,000 and £135,000 per annum and will serve for seven years.

And, signalling a reshaping of his much-criticised communications strategy, Mr Prodi moved his friend and spokesman, Mr Ricardo Levi, to head a revamped internal Commission think-tank. He will be succeeded by the British head of the spokesman service, Mr Jonathan Faull. A French official, Mr Michel Petite, takes over from Mr O'Sullivan.

The outgoing secretary general, Mr Carlo Trojan, who played an important part in shaping the EU's peace programme for Northern Ireland but became associated by many MEPs with the inertia of the last Commission, will become EU representative in Geneva.

The reshuffle follows sustained criticism in the media of what was perceived, largely unfairly, as a lack of direction on the part of Mr Prodi. Appearing relaxed, he admitted yesterday he should probably have made the changes earlier.

Mr O'Sullivan's nomination was last night welcomed by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, who expressed "the confidence of the Government in Mr O'Sullivan's continued contribution to the reshaping of the Commission and the achievement of the European Union's objectives".

Mr O'Sullivan said he was deeply honoured and saw his appointment as part of the Commission's process of change.

A widely respected official who has enjoyed a meteoric rise though the Commission's ranks since 1979, Mr O'Sullivan served in the cabinets of Mr Peter Sutherland and Mr Padraig Flynn.