Roving brief

摘要

The transport brief at the European Commission is a particularly thorny one. Trying to impose harmony on Europe's wildly-differing transport systems, developed over a variety of landscapes and marine routes from origins in the Roman Empire, is a daunting prospect. Add concerns about the environmental performance of various modes of transport and the ferocious competition between trade blocs, and the task becomes Herculean. It is a job for a wily political operator and Jacques Barrot, the European Commissioner for transport, certainly fits the bill. A 71-year-old veteran of French politics, he served as an MP from 1967 to 2004 for the centre-right UMP party and held posts at the housing, industry and health ministries. Switching to European politics in 2004, he first served as Commissioner for Regional Policy before moving to the transport commission, with responsibilities ranging from spacecraft to bicycle routes.