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EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - With the results of the Italian elections now clear, Brussels will not just be faced with a different set of negotiating partners in Rome, but is also set to lose one of its most senior EU commissioners.
Franco Frattini i, in charge of justice and home affairs as well as being one of five vice-presidents of the EU executive, is on his way to becoming Italy's minister for foreign affairs.
Incoming Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is expected to announce his full cabinet by the end of this week, but has already made clear in interviews with Italian TV that Mr Frattini will be part of his immediate political circle.
Mr Frattini, who already held the foreign affairs post for two years (2002-4) in a previous Berlusconi government, took political leave from his Brussels job earlier this month to campaign in the elections.
He leaves the increasingly powerful justice portfolio with several open issues and just after having launched a major legislative proposal to set up an entry/exit system in Europe that would monitor all non-EU travellers within the passport-free zone of the bloc through a finger-print scanning system.
Mr Frattini's departure also comes at a sensitive time in negotiations on producing a visa waiver for all EU citizens travelling to the US.
His department has been keen to stave off bilateral deals between Washington and individual national capitals wanting to sign up to extra air security measures in return for visa-free travel for their citizens - moves that Brussels regards as divisive and that raise a number of political and legal questions.
Instead, Mr Frattini had been hoping to secure a deal for all member states - only 15 are part of the US visa waiver programme - this autumn.
Mr Frattini's successor will also be coming into office just as the EU's southern sea borders are likely to become a major political issue again, as scores of Africans use the summer months to undertake the perilous sea journey to try and reach European shores.
In addition, from next year, if the new EU treaty comes into place as planned, the portfolio will gain in stature as the treaty removes most of the remaining member state vetoes in this area, speeding up decisions and results.
Nomination as soon as possible
It is unclear whether the next justice commissioner will automatically also be vice-president of the commission.
A perceived inadequate candidate would not only raise the ire of the parliament which has to approve the nominee but could prompt a commission reshuffle.
In 2004, MEPs shifted the power balance in Brussels by refusing to accept Rocco Buttiglione, Italy's first choice of commissioner, after he made derogatory remarks about gays and women during a parliamentary hearing.
There is no formal deadline for appointing a new person to the post but a commission spokesperson on Tuesday (15 April), while noting that Mr Frattini has not yet resigned his post, suggested it should be done "as swiftly as possible."