Backing for keeping commission

POLAND:POLAND'S EUROPE minister has said that Warsaw would support retaining the current 27-member European Commission as a way out of the current Lisbon Treaty impasse.

The idea of using a clause in the treaty and abandon plans to slim down the commission was one of the first concrete options floated yesterday.

"I don't think Poland would stand in the way if that was envisaged as a solution for the Irish people," said Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, Poland's minister of state for European affairs.

The loss of a permanent commissioner was an issue that had come up in Poland, he said, "and there is a legitimacy gained by having a commissioner".

The treaty proposes reducing the commission from 27 members to 18 from November 2014, with every EU state represented for two out of every three five-year terms. But Article 9D of the treaty allows the European council of government ministers "acting unanimously . . . to alter this number".

Sources in several governments have been eyeing this clause, particularly the new member states, who are less than thrilled about losing a permanent commissioner after only a decade in the Union.

Finnish foreign minister Alexander Stubb said on Monday that a solution giving every EU member state a commissioner would "strike a chord with Finland".

Other small member states such as Portugal may also support a move by Ireland to reopen the question regarding the size of the commission.

Berlin officials were less than thrilled at mention of retaining a 27-member commission.

"Sinn Féin announced they want a commissioner," said a chancellery source. "That can't be regulated in a protocol. If that is the answer of the Irish Government, then we will have to find another solution."