Creativity - IDA Ireland

D
‘For me, that
is what the
European Union
is all about, that
is what makes it
exciting and
dynamic, just to
see how you can
constantly
reshape it’
As secretary-general of the European
Commission, CATHERINE DAY is
the European Union’s most senior
civil servant, the first woman to hold
this role. On a recent trip to Dublin
she spoke to Ann O’Dea about the
challenges and rewards of the job
THE IRISH MIND »
UBLINER CATHERINE DAY JOINED THE EUROPEAN
COMMISSION BACK IN 1979, AND STEADILY ROSE UP
THROUGH THE RANKS TO REACH HER POSITION
TODAY AS SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE COMMIS-
SION, THE MOST SENIOR OFFICIAL IN THE EUROPEAN
UNION, AND THE FIRST WOMAN TO HOLD THIS ROLE.
“That means I have actually lived longer in Brussels than I
have in Dublin, but once a Dubliner always a Dubliner,” she
laughs.
A passionate European, in a previous role as deputy director
in Chris Patten’s external relations Directorate General, Day
was deeply involved with the enlargement of the Union from 15
countries to today’s 27. Her role involved working with the
accession countries to help them understand and prepare for
enlargement. It was a useful precursor to her current position,
which involves both the technical and political in spades.
“The secretary-general is the head of the civil service, which
means that my role is to be the link between the technical work
of departments – or, as we call them, the Directorates General
– and the political level of the College of Commissioners. So my
job is to help the president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso,
to set the priorities and then to get the machinery of the
Commission to deliver them.”
A challenging role, which involves dealing with representatives
from the 27 countries in today’s enlarged European Union,
Day does not seem in the slightest bit phased, and she is clearly
proud of the relatively smooth process of enlargement.
“I think enlargement has been an enormous success,” she tells
me. “I mean it’s been a political success and an economic success.
Yes there is a feeling of what I call indigestion but that will
pass. We will grow into our new size and shape, even if we
haven’t quite done that yet.”
Day admits there is sometimes what she describes as a “false
nostalgia” among the older member states as to how much easier
it was when there were only 15 countries. “You do get a lot
of ‘Oh in the old days it was so cosy, so easy’. It wasn’t. We’ve
done all kinds of analysis to see if the arrival of the 12 new countries
has slowed us down in decision-making and the answer is
simply no.
“Of course, it is somewhat more complicated because you
can’t talk to 27 people individually in the same way as you could
15, and Europe is much more diversified now,” she says. “We
were getting very homogenised as a block of 15 western European
countries, so suddenly to have to open up to countries with
completely different levels of standards of living and different
experiences had its challenges.
“But for me, that is what the European Union is all about, that
is what makes it exciting and dynamic, just to see how you can
constantly reshape it. Of course we are complicated, and sometimes
slow. The media doesn’t always understand because there
is not one person making the decisions. They find it difficult to
really accept that a collective of 27 can take decisions. But we
can.
“Maybe it can be dragged out of us under crisis pressure,
and maybe sometimes it’s too late and too little, but we are
doing extraordinary things that, had you said to people three
Issue 2 Spring/Summer 2011 INNOVATION IRELAND REVIEW 25