Brussels confirms Mandelson-Ashton switch (Extra)

Oct 3, 2008, 15:39 GMT

Brussels - The European Union's executive on Friday confirmed the resignation of hitherto EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and his replacement by the leader of the British House of Lords, Baroness Catherine Ashton.

Mandelson 'has today submitted his resignation to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. Mr Mandelson resigns to accept the invitation by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to join the government,' a statement from the EU executive said.

At the same time, Barroso approved British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's nomination of Ashton as Mandelson's replacement, the statement said.

Barroso has 'decided to attribute the trade portfolio' to Ashton, and called on member states to approve her appointment as soon as possible.

Under EU rules, Mandelson's resignation will come into effect as soon as his successor's appointment is confirmed.

Mandelson becomes the third of the EU's 27 commissioners to leave his post this year, following Markos Kyprianou of Cyprus and Franco Frattini of Italy, both of whom stepped down to take up the post of their country's foreign minister.

The current commission's mandate is set to expire in November 2009, but debate is currently raging in Brussels over the question of how it will be replaced.

EU leaders had hoped that the bloc's Lisbon Treaty - which calls for a 27-member commission in 2009 and an 18-member one in 2014 - would be in place in time for the handover.

But Irish voters rejected the Lisbon Treaty in a referendum on June 12, leaving the commission subject to the rules of the Nice Treaty, which says there must be 'fewer commissioners than member states' in 2009.