Brussels divided on future shape of EU commission
05.01.2007 - 09:29 CET | By Andrew Rettman
The European Commission is showing signs of division on EU institutional reform, with Polish commissioner Danuta Hubner attacking German commissioner Guenter Verheugen's idea that small EU states do not need fully-fledged commissioners.

"Creating two categories of member states and accepting size as a criterion, on the basis of which a country would have the right to designate a commissioner, is groundless and, speaking frankly, unacceptable," Ms Hubner told Polish press agency PAP on Thursday (4 January.)


One day earlier Mr Verheugen - industry commissioner and commission vice-president - had suggested that small states should get deputy commissioners in key policy areas rather than full commissioners with light portfolios to create "an efficient, small and highly competent commission."

The debate comes ahead of the EU's attempt to revive its moribund treaty-reform process this year, with the accession of Romania and Bulgaria in January straining the credibility of the one-state one-commissioner system after Bucharest got a new "multilingualism" portfolio, widely seen as negligible.

The EU's 27 member states contrast starkly in terms of size with Germany on 82.5 million while Malta has just 400,000 people in a situation that is reflected in the EU's "qualified majority" decision-making mechanism which gives more votes to big countries.

But the idea that small states are less equal than big ones remains a political taboo, with all capitals keen to have their man at the commission's top table to guard prestige and make sure that information about Brussels' internal thinking flows back home.

The draft EU constitution - rejected in French and Dutch referendums in 2005 - sketched out an equal rotation system for commissioner posts while the current Nice treaty says the number of commissioners should be reduced once the EU has 27 members, with Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey also waiting to join.

MEPs should get more say
Meanwhile, Poland's commissioner for regional policy backed Mr Verheugen's suggestion the European Parliament should select the commission president who would then select his own team, instead of the current situation where member states sort out all the appointments behind closed doors.

"You could consider the merits of a smaller commission," Ms Hubner said. "But a small commission would have to have a totally different method of selection, where commissioners are not selected by member states...The method of selection should be grounded in the European Parliament."

She added the 27-strong team of commissioners is functioning well but the bigger the commission gets the more power ends up in the hands of its president, amid claims by some observers that the current commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso already has a presidential style.

"I don't see any weakening of the commission...Work is going well. But there is a natural tendency, the bigger a body is, the more the presidential system dominates, because it is necessary to look for ways to take decisions efficiently, even if these ways are less democratic, to speak brutally," Ms Hubner explained.

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I'm convinced were on the wrong path when it comes to who these ten countries are. I don't think they can come from either the E. U. or the United Nations like many endtime enthusiast believe.

I personally think the answer lies in {psalm 83}, at least indirectly. The rest of it though, lies in the ancient Abrahamic covenant.

As for {Psalm 83}, history attests that it never happened. Therefore it’s a reasonable assumption to think that the ancient “ten” mentioned in that Psalm, just might be the future “ten” we’re looking for. Thanks to both the bible and the discovery of oil, we know that the Ishmaelites and Hagarites are the Arabs, and therefore make-up the first six nations.

1 Saudi Arabia…
2 United Arab Emirates
3Qatar
4 Bahrain
5Kuwait
6 Iraq

As for the remaining four nations of Pslam 83, they too are identifiable, beginning with the ancient Assyrians, from which the state of Syria comes from.

The next one ancient Philistia, i.e. the Philistines, lived in the region of today’s Gaza strip. The Palestinian’s who currently live in Gaza, claim they are the descendents of the Philistines, and therefore the future State of Palestine is number eight.

Number nine, must be the modern state of Jordan, because it’s within Jordan that the four ancient territories of Amalek, Edom, Moab, and Ammon where located.

Number ten is identifiable as well, because the ancient territories of Tyre, and Gebal were located in what’s today called Lebanon.

Though the E. U. will play a part, it wont be in the dogmatic context of the ten toes or horns that most eschatologist believe.

The Bible says: "The Lord has decreed for Jacob that his neighbors become his foes (Lamitations 1:17)."

In (Daniel 2: 41) it says that the iron of Nebuchadnezzer's great image will mix and mingle with the clay of the feet and toes of that image. The Hebrew and Aramaic word for both Mix and mingle, is the word Arab.

In other words, the Arab's will be the cause and effect that brings about the mixing of these two gentile systems together. I believe these two systems of governments are Democracy (iron) and religion (Islam).

In my book Prophecy Code, found at http://www.prophecycodebook.com I connect this mixing and mingling to Abrahams 3 part covenant, that God origionally meant for Isaac. I believe because of Ishmael, God was inclined to give him a portion of this covenant, he to would receive the law (Islam), the oil (black gold) and the land (temple mount). And it will be by means of this covenant that the world will attempt to unite.

Any ways it's all my book.

Jeffrey A. Manty