Verheugen faces fresh attack from commission officials
By Honor Mahony
European Commission vice-president Guenter Verheugen's outburst against the bureaucrats that serve him are still causing ripples of discontent in the Brussels executive, with employee representatives calling on his colleagues to distance themselves from his comments.
According to German daily FT Deutschland, a letter by the representatives is calling on Mr Verheugen's 24 commissioner colleagues to "clearly and publicly distance themselves" from his statements.
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They also call for a meeting with the college of commissioners in order to "restore trust between the commission and its personnel."
They met commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, who has so far publicly backed the German commissioner in charge of industry, to discuss the issue yesterday (26 October).
The representatives appear to be indirectly calling for the commissioner to lose his job with the letter saying "the question has to be raised as to whether Mr Verheugen still has a place in the college of commissioners."
Their anger is in reaction to statements made by Mr Verheugen to a German newspaper earlier this month indicating that EU civil servants are too powerful and run their own little fiefdoms within the commission, hindering stated goals of this commission such as deregulation.
Since the interview, Mr Verheugen has come under strong criticism for an April decision to promote Petra Erler to be his head of cabinet with a photo being published in the Lithuanian and German press of him holding hands with Mrs Erler.