Corbett’s obsession

Former MEP gets a new job.

Sometime MEP Richard Corbett (pictured) has not cut a happy figure since he lost his seat as a in the European Parliament elections in June. He was forced to go back to his previous employment – working in the secretariat of the Parliament. He was an official there for many years, later becoming deputy secretary-general of the Socialist group, before being elected to the Parliament in 1996.

But after 13 years as an MEP, working for other MEPs cannot be much fun. So no surprise that he has found himself a new job and one which gives him scope to indulge his obsession with the EU’s constitutional arrangements: he is joining the private office of Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council. The two have known one another for years – personally, not professionally.

Other members of the ten-strong team include Odile Renaud-Basso, a French national who was director responsible for the economic and finance committee in the European Commission. She will be deputy head of his private office. Luuk Van Middelaar, a former journalist with Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad and a member of the Dutch liberal VVD party, is to be Van Rompuy’s speechwriter.

Presiding over the private office is Frans van Daele, a long-time adviser to leading Flemish Christian Democrat politicians, including Wilfried Martens and Jean-Luc Dehaene. He was successively Belgium’s ambassador to the EU, to the US and to NATO. This loyal service to the Belgium state was rewarded by his being made a baron, which should ensure that Van Rompuy’s office is never outranked by Catherine Ashton.