Italy names two for EC Commission

ROME (Reuter) - A career diplomat, Raniero Vanni d'Archirafi, and a former Socialist minister, Antonio Ruberti, were named yesterday as Italy's two new representatives on the European Commission.

The two replace Carlo Ripa di Meana, the former EC Environment Commissioner, who resigned in June to take up a ministerial post in the new Italian government, and Filippo Maria Pandolfi, one of the Commission vice-presidents.

The surprise choice was Mr Vanni d'Archirafi, 61, head of the Italian Foreign Ministry's political desk. He had served as chief of staff to Emilio Colombo, the Foreign Minister, in 1980. As head of the ministry's economic desk between 1989 and 1991 he was a member of the Italian team which negotiated the Maastricht treaty.

Mr Ruberti, a Socialist like Mr Ripa di Meana, was a junior minister in the previous government, in which he was in charge of university affairs and scientific research. He is 66.

The government's failure to name the new commissioners until now had provoked strong public criticism.