A Super Commissioner for Europe

After their high profile summit, Gerhard Schröder, Jacques Chirac and Tony Blair announced their plans for the appointment of a super commissioner to oversee economic reform across the European Union.

"This is an issue we have discussed, and subsequently reached a joint decision on," Germany's Chancellor Schröder told reporters as he handed out a report detailing the trio's plans for the controversial new post.

"We call for the creation of a Commission Vice President exclusively responsible for economic reform issues to help realize our growth goals," the big three wrote in a letter addressed to EU Commission President Romano Prodi, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who currently holds the rotating EU presidency, and leaders of the member states excluded from the Berlin summit.

A "rebundling of portfolios"

The trio agreed that they want to see a reshuffling of the European Commission to make it better focused to pursue economic policy. This would involve a "rebundling of portfolios" to give priority to industry and innovation.

The new "super commissioner," who would be appointed as vice-president of the European Commission to act as a European economics minister, would supervise the work of existing internal market, environment, trade and industry commissioners.

The proposed restructuring would create a hierarchy of commissioners, with prominence given to portfolios designed to boost the EU's competitiveness.

The world's most dynamic economy

With ten new members set to join the EU in May, Berlin, Paris and London agree there is urgent need for wide-ranging reforms to kickstart Europe's economic growth and reduce unemployment across the bloc.

Schröder, Blair and Chirac believe that otherwise the EU has no chance of achieving the goal spelled out at the 2000 Lisbon summit of becoming the world's most dynamic economy by 2010.

In a joint statement, the big three said that given current performance, the EU would fall short of its target of getting two-thirds of all potential workers into jobs by 2005, and proposed that the new super commissioner should have a say in all decisions on EU projects "which impact on the aims of the Lisbon agenda."

Will the new post help?

The trio agreed Wednesday that Europe's economies must take significant measures to close the technology and innovation gap with the United States. They called on the EU to increase funding for biotech, communication and other future-oriented technologies.

The super commissioner would head up the EU's drive to overtake the United States' economic performance -- but experts are skeptical the post would have much effect.

Economist Rainer Guntermann from Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein told Reuters news agency he doubted "such a commissioner would have the power to make real changes," pointing out that "the real decisions on economic reform are always going to be taken elsewhere."

So far, a candidate has not been named, but observers have suggested Germany will be keen to put forward Günther Verheugen, the German commissioner in charge of EU enlargement.