Belgian back in the fold

Louis Michel may be planning to take a month off from the European Commission to campaign in the Belgian elections, but Marc Vanheukelen is preparing to move in the other direction, from Belgian public service back to the Commission. Vanheukelen was once in the cabinet of then European Commissioner Monika Wulf-Mathies. More recently he has been working on secondment from DG Budget in the cabinet of Karel de Gucht, the Belgian foreign minister, following a stint as head of unit for sustainable development in DG Environment. But he is to return to the Commission, joining DG Relex on Monday (2 April) as head of unit for relations with the US and Canada. That Vanheukelen should abandon ship at this stage shows a lamentable lack of faith in the ability of the heavyweight Michel, a Walloon liberal, to keep De Gucht's Flemish liberals in government.