Ireland's hopes of retaining the right of each EU member-state to nominate a commissioner received a boost yesterday when the Commission President, Mr Romano Prodi, said the present system was the best guarantee that the Commission would remain representative.
Speaking in Brussels, Mr Prodi said that a majority of the 20 Commissioners agreed that the present system was preferable to a proposal to limit the Commission's size and rotate membership among member-states.
The reform of the Commission is among the key issues to be discussed by EU leaders in Nice next month, and the debate has recently pitched larger member-states against smaller ones.
"The small countries are more concerned to have a commissioner. The issue is to have a Commission that is representative of the whole of the EU," Mr Prodi said.
The Commission initiates European legislation and ensures that EU laws are enforced, but all new measures must be approved by national governments meeting in the Council of Ministers and in many cases by the European Parliament.
At present, the Commission is made up of two members from each of the larger member-states and one from each of the others. Under the rotation proposal, the size of the Commission would be limited to 13 or 20 and if the number of member-states exceeded the maximum size of the Commission, each country would take turns to forgo its right to nominate a commissioner for a five-year term.
No country would nominate more than one commissioner, and no member-state would be without a commissioner for two terms in succession.
Ireland, in common with other small countries, argues that the Commission can only remain representative and accountable if all member-states are represented.
Mr Prodi said yesterday that, if all countries were to retain their right to a commissioner, the Commission would have to be reformed to give the President greater powers, allowing him to sack commissioners or change their portfolios.
On another contentious issue, a proposal to change the voting system in the Council of Ministers to reflect more accurately the population strength of larger countries, Mr Prodi said that the Commission favoured the introduction of a "double majority" system. This means that decisions would need the backing of both a majority of member-states and of governments representing a majority of EU citizens.
"The double majority is so clear and simple and democratically overwhelming that Europe should pay heed to this", he said.
Mr Prodi also said it was essential that the use of national vetoes should be reduced if the EU was to function with a larger number of members.