THE personal affability and popularity of the Belgian Commissioner for Competition, Mr Karel van Miert (57), betrays a steely resolution. Tipped as one of those who could lead a short-term transitional Commission over the next few months, Mr van Miert would certainly be the candidate favoured in Brussels.
When Mr van Miert, a Flemish Socialist, was appointed head of the key Competition directorate in 1994, after a successful term in transport, it was seen by many as a sign the new Commission wanted to soft-pedal on hunting down illegal state aids and cartel-busting.
Far from it. Mr Van Miert has faced down some of the most formidable member states, not to mention the US, with the zeal of a convert. Perhaps most painfully, he stood firm in refusing permission for state aids to the Belgian steel-maker Forges de Clabecq, in effect forcing it to close.
He would certainly have been reappointed for another five-year term to the Commission in 2000 were it not for the system of power-sharing between the two communities in Belgium which means it is the turn of a Francophone. Mr Van Miert has declared his intention to retire from politics and the end of the year.
His politics are of the moderate, pragmatic kind and he has maintained a link with academia, teaching regularly at the Vrije Universiteit of Brussels a course on the European institutions.
