Frenchman Takes Office As European Transport Commissioner

The new European Commission took office on Nov. 22, with the position of transport commissioner going to a Frenchman, Jacques Barrot. He appears to have survived calls by members of the European Parliament to be denied the post after it was revealed he failed to disclose a conviction for embezzlement in 2000. Barrot was given a suspended sentence for political party funding offenses dating to before 1991, when there were no laws regulating campaign financing in France. The conviction was immediately voided under a 1995 French presidential amnesty.

Barrot, 67, is a lawyer-turned-politician. He was in charge of regional policy in the previous European Commission whose five-year term has just ended. Barrot has no background in transport but already has floated the idea of introducing a tax on aviation fuel for flights within the European Union.