Cyprus ‘interested’ in EU mediterranean commissioner role
Cyprus is “interested” in the role of a European Commissioner for the Mediterranean, President Nikos Christodoulides said.
According to a report published on news website Politico on Thursday, Christodoulides said the country “has a lot to offer on shipping and other issues affecting the region”, and thus a Cypriot candidate would be “ideal” for the role.
He added that recently re-elected European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had created the role “after our own urgings”.
“We will have to see in practice what the Mediterranean portfolio means, what are the powers, what are the responsibilities, what is the scope of engagement,” he said, adding that he had also spoken about “other portfolios” with von der Leyen.
Von der Leyen had first floated the idea of a dedicated European Commissioner for the Mediterranean last week, telling members of the European Parliament the Mediterranean “should get undivided attention”.
“This is why I will appoint a commissioner for the region and propose a new agenda for the Mediterranean together with [European Union High Representative-elect for Foreign Affairs] Kaja Kallas – because the future of the two Mediterranean shores is one and the same,” she said.
With von der Leyen’s place as European Commission president now having been locked in for five more years, EU member states are now attempting to jostle for position to secure “their” commissioners’ high-profile roles in the next commission.
The number of commissioners including the president is equal to the number of EU member states, with each member state’s government asked to nominate one commissioner.
However, commissioners do not represent their country at the commission, but rather act in a similar way to cabinet members, speaking on matters related to their portfolio across the EU, and speaking on behalf of the EU and not their country of origin on those matters.
Heads of government often believe that their country’s nominee landing a high-profile portfolio may boost their prestige and standing within the EU, though the real impact of this seems to be negligible, especially given the example of Cyprus in recent history.
Cyprus’ nominee in 2019 Stella Kyriakides was given the health portfolio and was thus European health commissioner throughout the worst public health crisis to hit the continent in living memory, but the impact of this fact on Cyprus’ standing within the bloc has been negligible at best.
The question of who Cyprus will nominate as a commissioner remains open, with Kyriakides having announced earlier this month that she would not serve another term in the commission.
Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis told the Cyprus Mail on Thursday that there are “a few names” being spoken about inside government but that he had “nothing to say publicly”, with the name of Cyprus’ nominee to be made public “in the coming days”.
Earlier rumours had suggested former finance minister and current Disy MP Harris Georgiades may be “in the mix” for the job, though both he and Nikos Christodoulides issued swift denials.
Former Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis had also been mentioned in the media as a possible candidate, though the recent termination of his legacy project, the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal project at Vasiliko, may be seen to have damaged his standing, if he was ever in the running in the first place.