An announcement on this matter will be made at the appropriate time.
As the Deputy will no doubt be aware, the term of office of the Commission expires on 5 January next. Under the present treaties, persons are in the first instance nominated by the member states and are then formally appointed for a four year term by the Governments of the member states by common accord.
At the Maastricht European Council last December, it was agreed that the term of office of the Commission should parallel that of the European Parliament. Accordingly, the Treaty on European Union effectively provides that, in order to bridge the gap to the next elections to the European Parliament scheduled for mid-1994, the term of office of the new Commission to be appointed in January next year will be for two years only.
At the end of this period, in other words, beginning from January 1995, the term of office of the Commission will be five years, as is the case now for the European Parliament.
In addition, the Maastricht Treaty provides for the European Parliament to have a greater role in the appointment of the President and the members of the Commission. This new procedure will be applied for the first time in the appointment of the Commission whose term of office will begin in January 1995.
The Government, in their decision on the Irish Commissionership from 1993, will, of course, take fully into account the best interests of this country and of the European Community, including the fundamental importance we attach to the Commission's pivotal role under the treaties.
The distribution of portfolios will continue by collegiate decision of the Commission itself. I should also mention, for the information of the House, that the proposal that there should be one Commissioner only per member state was not resolved during last year's intergovernmental conference and, in a Declaration to the Maastricht Treaty, it has been agreed that this issue will be considered by the member states before the end of this year.