Marianne Thyssen – self-starter

Profile of the European commissioner for employment, social affairs, skills and labour mobility.

As the European commissioner for employment, social affairs, skills and labour mobility, Marianne Thyssen is charged with getting more European citizens into work and increasing career opportunities. In some respects, she is eminently qualified: she has worked hard to get where she now is and has blazed a trail for women in Belgian public life. Yet her career also demonstrates the importance of chance. For her, opportunities were created by a mix of accident and luck, seasoned with a well-developed sense of duty.

It was Herman Van Rompuy who persuaded Thyssen to embark on a political career and to put herself forward as a candidate for the European Parliament. Back in 1988, Van Rompuy, who recently stepped down as president of the European Council, was chairman of the Flemish Christian Democrat party, CVP, the predecessor of the current Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V).

He had been impressed by Thyssen’s occasional media performances as director of the research and advisory section of Unizo, which represents small businesses and the self-employed. She was to become the secretary-general of Unizo in 1991.

Thyssen came from outside the world of politics: her family owned a bakery. Although she had worked as a part-time adviser to Wivina Demeester, state secretary for public health and disability, she harboured no ambition to go into frontline politics and her colleagues had a hard time persuading her to make the leap. At the time, she says, she had “the best job in the world”.

Rik Torfs was a law student with Thyssen at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in the 1970s. He has since become a scholar of canon law, rector of the university and a thinker on Christian Democracy. Thyssen was not, he recalls, involved in faculty boards or student politics, though she did have an interest in societal developments. “She was more serious than most of the other students,” Torfs remembers, “and prettier as well.”

Thyssen did not get elected in the 1989 contest, but became an MEP two years later when she took the place of Karel Pinxten, who moved to the Belgian senate. What was unforeseeable then was that she would remain an MEP for the next 23 years, leaving only when she was nominated for the European Commission.

She plays down the enormity of that transition to the Commission now, remarking: “It feels as if I am still working on the same project, but from a different side.”

The transition was not inevitable. Belgium’s nomination of a European commissioner became caught up in the struggle to form a national government – a general election had been held on 25 May, the same day as the elections to the European Parliament. The CD&V was one of the parties in discussion over the formation of a coalition government. But in those negotiations, her party was obliged to choose between nominating the commissioner and taking the prime ministership. To the surprise of some, it chose to secure the post of commissioner for Thyssen.

Curriculum vitae

1956: Born, Sint-Gillis-Waas
1979: Master’s degree in law, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
1979-80: Research assistant, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
1980-88: Legal advisor at Belgian SME organisation Unizo and women’s network Markant
1986-88: Legal advisor to state secretary for public health and disability policy
1988-91: Director of the research department, Unizo
1991: Acting secretary-general, Unizo
1991-2014: MEP
1995-2008: Municipal councillor, Oud-Heverlee
1999-2014: Head of the EPP’s Belgian delegation in the European Parliament
2001-08: First Alderman, Oud-Heverlee
2008-10: Leader of CD&V party
2004-09: First vice-president of the EPP group in the European Parliament
2014-: European commissioner for employment, social affairs, skills and labour mobility

Rob Heirbaut, who reports on European politics for the Flemish public broadcaster VRT, says that the CD&V was partly concerned to shore up its traditionally strong position within the centre-right EPP group. The recent deaths of Wilfried Martens and of Jean-Luc Dehaene had weakened CD&V’s position in the EPP. The nomination of Thyssen secured CD&V a place in the EU’s inner circles.

What made Thyssen’s nomination easier was that in the Parliament she enjoyed support that crosses party boundaries. She has none of the big-ego abrasiveness that was a feature of her predecessors in the Commission, Karel De Gucht and Louis Michel. Whether in Flemish or European politics, party colleagues and opponents alike are – without exception – positive about her. “She might be too good a person to be a politician,” Torfs says.

While an MEP, she also exercised a second mandate in local politics, which the Belgian political system permits in theory and the proximity of the European Parliament permits in practice. She was a member of the municipal council of Oud Heverlee, just to the south of Leuven. Its territory includes her home village of Sint-Joris-Weert, on the edge of Meerdaal woods, which is home to a mix of farmworkers, small industry and those who commute into Leuven and Brussels. The linguistic border between Flanders and Wallonia runs close by. Heirbaut says she remains loyal to her local football club by attending all home matches. She was president of the Parliament’s beer club for 15 years – a reflection of the importance of breweries to the areas around Leuven, which is the home to InBev.

As a local councillor she chose to work aon such social issues as childcare and care for the elderly, partly because they fitted well with her Parliament schedule, and allowed her to attend municipal meetings in the evening. The opening of a children’s nursery is part of her legacy. However, she relinquished the local duties in the last years of her time as an MEP, partly to allow her to work on important dossiers in the Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee.

Additionally, in 2008 the senior figures in the CD&V had asked Thyssen to take over the position of chairing the party. She had never made a secret of her preference for European rather than national politics, seeing Europe as her “natural environment”. But she took up the national responsibility as grateful recognition that “the party has allowed me to stay in Europe for such a long time”.

Party leadership was no easy task. Traditionally the CD&V had been the party of government, but it was under pressure from the new force in Flemish politics, the N-VA. The formation of a government after the elections of 2007 dragged on, prodiucing a government led by CD&V’s Yves Leterme that was unhappy and short-lived. Support for CD&V fell sharply between the federal elections of 2007 and 2010.

Thyssen characterises her time as party chair as “the most stressful period” of her life, though she said she would do it again if asked to. She stepped down from the position after the 2010 election and shortly afterwards became seriously ill. Now, she rationalises the experience as something that “perhaps just needed to happen” because she had “worked day and night for the past 25-30 years”. It made her realise what is important in life, she said. But it has not deterred her from taking up the task of commissioner.

The first few weeks in the Commission have been hectic, but she still “hopes for improvement” to the balance of life, to spend some more time on sports – in particular, running – and on dinners with friends.

Although many in Belgian politics were disappointed that Thyssen was assigned only the employment and social affairs portfolio, her own reaction was that “she could not have wished for a better post”. Hers is a serious dossier and her staff can be sure that she will work hard to master its technicalities. The challenge is to improve employment opportunities across Europe, ensuring that the EU maintains its humanity while pursuing economic reform. If she succeeds, it is not just her own career that will benefit.

Click Here: Maori All Blacks Store

Leaders hold summit on special appointments

Summit expected to make the remaining appointments to the EU’s top jobs.

The leaders of the European Union’s member states are scheduled to hold an extraordinary summit on Wednesday (16 July) to appoint the next president of the European Council, the new foreign-policy chief and possibly the next chairperson of the group of eurozone finance ministers. Depending on the situation on the ground, the leaders might also discuss developments in Ukraine.

Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, intends to wrap up consultations with national leaders on Friday (11 July). “We expect that Van Rompuy will have done the full round by the end of this week and then we will have the full picture” of whether there is a deal on the appointments, a diplomat involved in the preparations said. Van Rompuy was in Paris on Tuesday (8 July) for talks with President François Hollande. “This is pure politics and the discussion is at the leader level and does not involve sherpas,” the diplomat said, referring to the national diplomatic envoys.

As part of a ‘grand coalition’ deal between the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) and the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D), to which the liberal ALDE was later admitted, the left is expected to nominate both the foreign-policy chief (the successor to Catherine Ashton) and the president of the European Council (in succession to Van Rompuy). The deal appears to be that Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Denmark’s prime minister, will get the Council presidency and Federica Mogherini, Italy’s foreign minister, the post of high representative for foreign affairs and security policy.

Despite grumbling in the EPP and ambitions within ALDE, that deal seems to be holding, according to diplomats. Jean-Claude Juncker, the centre-right nominee for Commission president, suggested on Tuesday that the centre-left would also get the crucial economic portfolio in the Commission. The president of the European Council is appointed for a term of two and a half years, as is the chair of the Eurogroup. The foreign-policy chief is appointed for five years.

Since the high representative is also a Commission vice-president, Juncker needs this appointment in order to assign portfolios in his administration. “The high representative is a very important piece of the puzzle that Juncker needs to do his job,” an official said. The appointment also requires Juncker’s consent, which he will be invited to give at the end of next week’s European Council. Juncker is expected to be confirmed as the next Commission president on the eve of the European Council, which is scheduled to start at 6pm.

Click Here: All Blacks Rugby Jersey

A very sticky situation

Entre Nous learnt long ago that the production of honey is important to Hungary. It seems that once again there are Hungarian beekeepers complaining about how European rules might affect their production, and the issue is in danger of souring the lacklustre election campaign.

Voters are wearied by the general election, which was only last month, and tired of politicians droning on, but now they have been given something to care about: bees might be deprived of flowers. The claim is that the EU might declare war on the false acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia), a species of tree that is so full of flowers that it is beloved of both bees and beekeepers. Because the false acacia did not come from Europe initially – the clue is in the name – the scare-story is that in about 18 months or so, a committee of EU technical experts might list the false acacia as an ‘alien invasive species’ – non-native flora or fauna that damage the environment – and therefore subject it to some form of monitoring and, possibly, culling.

It should be added that the false acacia has not been proposed for listing, so this might all be a storm in a honey-pot. Nevertheless, Entre Nous is intrigued by the possibility of the Hungarian beekeepers teaming up with Scottish defenders of the Japanese skeleton shrimp or Danish champions of (escaped) north American mink. A Europe-wide party called Friends of the Invasive Species would go some small way to offset the usual quota of racist anti-immigrant parties.

Click Here: NRL Telstra Premiership

EU puts Ukraine trade deal on legal ice

Goodwill gesture to Russia would leave Ukraine with nearly all the advantages of a full trade deal, EU argues.

The European Union yesterday (12 September) said that it would delay the application of a trade agreement with Ukraine until the end of 2015, in a move intended to bolster the chances of Russia agreeing to a comprehensive peace deal to end the war in eastern Ukraine.

The decision was announced by the European Commission hours after a meeting between the EU’s commissioner for trade and ministers from Russia and Ukraine. The announcement came under the shadow of a threat from Russia to end Ukraine’s privileged access to its traditional markets in post-Soviet states if it pressed ahead with the EU trade agreement.

On Friday morning, the president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, had signalled Ukraine’s determination to forge deeper ties with the EU. He confirmed that Ukraine’s parliament will on Tuesday (16 September) ratify a political agreement of which the trade agreement is a part. The association agreement between the EU and Ukraine will be ratified at exactly the same moment by the European Parliament.

The announcement of a delay in the application of the trade provisions means that the political and trade dimensions of the association agreement are now distinct in legal terms. Officials made clear that the political agreement will continue as envisaged, on Tuesday.

Russia has repeatedly warned Ukraine that it would end the benefits that Ukraine enjoys as a party to a free-trade agreement with a group of post-Soviet states, the Commonwealth of Independent State, if it ratifies its free-trade agreement with the EU.

An EU official said that the EU had agreed to hold off on ratification in order to prevent a “full economic war” between Ukraine and Russia, which, he said, had been likely from 16 September.

Russia is already applying major economic pressure on Ukraine. It halted supplies of gas to Ukraine in mid-June, and Ukrainian companies face a range of obstacles reaching the Russian market, which was previously of roughly the same value to Ukraine as the EU market.

The decision is portrayed as an effort to support Ukraine’s efforts to strike a peace deal with Russia, with Karel De Gucht, the European commissioner for trade, saying: “This is part and parcel of the comprehensive peace process in Ukraine.”

An EU source said that the European Commission’s decision had been made at Ukraine’s request.

An official said that Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko had raised the possibility of a delay at a meeting of leaders of the NATO military alliance last week (4-5 September), at a time when Russia and Ukraine were negotiating a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.

The EU is trying to emphasise that the decision will have only a limited economic impact on Ukraine, with the decision to delay implementation of the trade deal amounting, in effect, to a low-cost economic decision with potentially significant military and security benefits for Ukraine.

The practical impact on Ukraine’s economy rests very much on technical wording.

The EU will press ahead as planned with ratification of the trade agreement. However, as it usually takes the EU’s 28 member states around two years to ratify trade deals, the European Commission usually applies the terms of a trade deal before ratification – in effect, offering its partner the practical benefits of a deal before it has been formalised legally. Today’s decision means that provisional application – the legal term for such early benefits – will not come into force until 1 January 2016.

Click Here: NRL Telstra Premiership

However, a recent legal innovation by the Commission means that today’s decision will have little impact on the timing and scale of the economic benefits of the ‘deep and comprehensive free trade agreement’ (DCFTA) that the EU and Ukraine signed in March.

In an effort to help Ukraine withstand the economic pressure applied by Russia, the European Commission decided in April to apply unilaterally nearly all the provisions of the DCFTA with immediate effect. This unilateral initiative – known as ‘autonomous trade measures’ – was swiftly backed by the European Parliament.

The autonomous trade measures had been scheduled to end on 31 October, to be superseded by provisional application of the DCFTA.

The Commission’s intention now is to extend the autonomous trade measures through to 31 December 2014.

An EU official said that it is now for EU lawyers to decide what steps need to be taken to extend the autonomous trade measures.

There is little doubt that the European Parliament would give its consent to an extension, if asked to do so. The Parliament has consistently given full-throated backing for the trade agreement. Its decision to ratify the association agreement simultaneously with the Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday is a novelty intended to emphasise its solidarity with Ukraine in the midst of its battle with pro-Russian separatists and Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.

An EU official defended the decision to delay provisional application of the DCFTA, saying that it was a way to support Ukraine’s efforts to establish peace in eastern Ukraine that did not require it and the EU to “give up any line in the association agreement” or any of their “values”.

On Saturday news of the delay to the DCFTA was given a mixed reception at the Riga Conference, a political and security event in Latvia. Borys Tarasyuk, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, characterised it as “appeasement” of Russia by the EU. Joerg Forbrig, a fellow of the German Marshall Fund, said that although Poroshenko would probably lose some political capital in Ukraine, it was a step that had to be taken. “Ukraine is simply not ready,” he said.Linas Linkevičius, the foreign affairs minister of Lithuania, said: “I hope it’s not a postponement of the choice.”

Juncker, the foreign-policy president?

Juncker wants to increase the Commission’s weight in the EU’s foreign policy, but his early decisions have reduced the potential benefits.

Throughout its short life, the European External Action Service (EEAS) has been a battleground for competing institutional interests – its own, the European Commission’s and those of the European Union’s member states and of the European Parliament. There is no doubt who has taken the initiative in the first battle of the 2014-19 war: Jean-Claude Juncker, the president-elect of the European Commission.

As well as announcing the line-up of his Commission on 10 September, he set out in a letter to the new commissioners what he wanted from them. His letter to Federica Mogherini, the new head of EU foreign policy but also a vice-president of the Commission, has many details but one clear message: he and Mogherini have struck a “pragmatic agreement” that the Commission must have a much stronger role in the EU’s foreign policy. Among the telling details of the “pragmatic agreement” is Mogherini’s decision to have her office not in the institution that she heads – the EEAS – but in the Commission’s headquarters and agreement that “roughly” half of Mogherini’s private office will be formed by officials from the Commission.

Click Here: Aston Villa Shop

Juncker also ventured directly into foreign policy, making a bald declaration in his letter to the incoming commissioner for enlargement, Johannes Hahn, that there will be “no further enlargement…during our mandate”.

Juncker’s letters to Mogherini and Hahn have already had two effects. First, many EEAS officials are “devastated”, said one, that Mogherini is distancing herself from the EEAS even before she takes up her post. Second, would-be members of the EU are now worrying and scurrying around for clarification of Juncker’s declaration about enlargement. At first glance, Juncker was merely stating the obvious: no one has expected the 29^th European commissioner to gain a seat at Juncker’s table in the 2014-19 term. But the statement causes immediate political problems for governments (such as Serbia’s) that have told their populations that they will complete accession talks in the next few years, and is fuelling fears that the EU’s new leaders will play populist politics at the expense of Balkan states.

A third problem may emerge if Juncker is not careful: a battle with the EU’s member states. Many member states may not favour enlargement, but they all share the belief that it is they, not the Commission’s president, who decide about enlargement. Indeed, the approach of the current European commissioner, Štefan Füle, has been to empower member states, by giving them more influence during the Commission’s negotiations with the likes of Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia.

The early fruits of the “pragmatic agreement” are, therefore, not promising. Mogherini will have to spend time smoothing ruffled feathers in candidate countries. She will also need to improve morale in the EEAS, mainly by paying some attention to the EEAS but also by choosing a good second-in-command, to serve as the EEAS’s secretary-general.

Two parts of the “pragmatic agreement”, though, will be widely welcomed. Ashton made little use of the potential of her role as vice-president of the Commission, chairing no meetings (according to the European Court of Auditors) of the group – or ‘cluster’ – of commissioners whose jobs have a significant foreign-policy dimension. Juncker is, therefore, right to persuade Mogherini to pay attention to the Commission and to reinvigorate the idea of ‘clusters’.

But the effectiveness of Mogherini’s cluster depends heavily on the four commissioners that Juncker has chosen for Mogherini’s team. Juncker has gambled. None of the four has much, if any, experience in their portfolios: trade, development, crisis response and the EU’s eastern and southern neighbourhoods.

Two seem a safe gamble: the trade commissioner-designate, Sweden’s Cecilia Malmström, has proved an effective commissioner for the past five years; while Croatia’s Neven Mimica, a trade specialist and skilled negotiator, is unlikely to struggle with the size and detail of the development portfolio. Austria’s Johannes Hahn and Cyprus’s Christos Stylianides are bigger risks. Although helping the neighbourhood might seem a natural progression from helping the EU’s poor regions (Hahn’s current task), he has very little international experience, but is now in charge of relations with six would-be EU member states and 16 neighbouring countries; while Stylianides has little ministerial-level experience, but is in charge of a portfolio – the EU’s response to emergencies – where administration is a matter of life and death. At this point, Hahn and Stylianides appear unlikely to prove significant counterweights to Juncker or Mogherini – which may be why they were given these posts. Given the crises all around the EU’s rim, Hahn’s appointment makes it particularly important for Mogherini swiftly to dispel the doubts raised by her inexperience and her dovish history on Russia policy.

Juncker and the Mogherini cluster are not, however, the only commissioners who will have a big impact on EU foreign policy. Juncker’s selection of Alenka Bratušek as vice-president for the ‘energy union’ particularly matters. Juncker has again gambled. The ‘energy union’ is a new concept, which suggests that someone with plenty of experience of the EU system is needed. The 44-year-old Bratušek may be a former prime minister of Slovenia, but she was in national politics for less than three years and was a minister for just 17 months.

The Ashton era created a general acceptance that the Commission should have a bigger role in the EU’s foreign policy – but Juncker may have over-compensated. Juncker says he wants a more ‘political’ Commission – but he has struck too populist a note on enlargement. The idea of strong Commission vice-presidencies holds plenty of promise – but his selection of commissioners for foreign-policy portfolios has reduced that promise.

‘Lux Leaks’ inquiry decision delayed

Group leaders in the European Parliament will decide in early February on an investigation into Luxembourg’s tax policies.

Senior figures in the European Parliament have postponed a decision on whether to open an inquiry into tax avoidance in Luxembourg.

The leaders of the political groups and the Parliament’s president – collectively known as the conference of presidents – will continue their discussions on the matter on 5 February.

The Green group in the Parliament called for a committee of inquiry to be set up following the ‘Lux Leaks’ scandal of last November, when it was revealed that Luxembourg had given large companies favourable tax breaks, while Jean-Claude Juncker was prime minister and finance minister.

At a press conference in Strasbourg yesterday (14 January), Green MEPs Sven Giegold and Philippe Lamberts said that they had reached the required number of signatures – 25% of MEPs – to force the conference of presidents to discuss the setting up of an inquiry.

By yesterday at 4pm they had collected 194 signatures, with full support from the Greens and the far-left GUE/NGL groups. Some members of the other political groups also signed the petition. According to a Greens spokesperson, the group is not “actively looking for more support”.

The decision to delay was taken by Martin Schulz, the president of the Parliament, so that a legal examination could be carried out. According to EU law, the Parliament must check the signatures and the legal basis for the petition as well as the compatibility with EU treaties.

If it passes those tests, the conference of presidents will discuss the matter on 5 February. If approved, the entire Parliament would need to vote on the proposal in plenary, which could take place in February (9-12) or March (9-12).

Giegold, who said the Greens did not ask for support from the French Front National or the United Kingdom Independence Party, spoke about a “turning point” for the Parliament. He added that for the first time in 30 years “the European Parliament will play a role in a tax matter”.

The groups stressed that the inquiry was not a personal attack on Juncker. “The proposal is an answer to decades of non-involvement of the EU in this matter,” Giegold said.

A quarter of the 68 liberal MEPs supported the proposal, although group leader Guy Verhofstadt said he was in favour of an inquiry committee on one condition: “We should also continue our work on the report with legislative proposals in order to find a European solution against tax evasion and tax fraud.”

Gianni Pittella, leader of the socialist MEPs, said that “a legislative report, issued by the economic affairs committee, will be the best way to force the Commission to act in order to tackle the unfair tax competition between member states.” Of the 191 socialist MEPs, 31 have so far signed the proposal.

Click Here: Aston Villa Shop

The highly-rated 21-year-old may not be the biggest, but he is eager to point out that many of the best players in the world are small in stature

Sarpreet Singh is looking to follow the Lionel Messi model when it comes to achieving superstar status, with size no issue for the highly-rated Bayern Munich midfielder.

The New Zealand international, who is of Indian heritage, is aiming to follow in the footsteps of a long line of diminutive playmakers.

For him, technical ability wins out over physicality, with his creative instincts allowing him to thrive alongside team-mates and opponents who may be stronger in stature.

There are plenty of world-class performers to have slipped into that category down the years, including Argentine icons Messi and Diego Maradona.

Singh hopes to tread a similar path to the top, telling BBC Sport: “There are so many examples of players who are small but they are still the best players on the pitch.

“For me it’s about being smarter and getting around that. I think physical, it’s easy to fix. Technique is a bit harder to fix.”

The promising 21-year-old has plenty of talented performers around him at Bayern to learn from in the present.

Prolific Polish striker Robert Lewandowski forms part of that pool, along with Brazil international Philippe Coutinho – another player of Singh’s ilk.

“Learning off the likes of Lewandowski, Thiago and Coutinho and these guys, there’s no-one better in the world to learn off,” he added.

“I’m extremely grateful for that and every day I strive to be like them.”

Singh has taken in just one competitive appearance for Bayern so far, with a memorable first-team bow made off the bench in a 6-1 demolition of Werder Bremen on December 14.

“That debut, 80,000 packed out at the Allianz Arena, it’s a truly special feeling and everything I’ve worked hard for kind of paid off,” he said.

“But at the same time, it’s just a start.”

Singh’s efforts for Bayern’s reserve side have helped to push him into contention for senior minutes.

He has recorded six goals for their second string this season, with the Bundesliga giants continuing to unlock potential that was snapped up from Wellington Phoenix and handed a three-year contract in the summer transfer window of 2019.

The former right-back does not believe Jurgen Klopp’s Reds deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as one of English football’s great sides

Wes Brown insists there are “no comparisons to make” between Liverpool’s current squad and the Manchester United side which secured a unique treble under Sir Alex Ferguson.

Click Here: Crystal Palace Shop

Liverpool have established a 22-point advantage over reigning champions Manchester City at the top of the Premier League this season, with only 10 fixtures remaining.

Jurgen Klopp’s men have set unprecedented new standards of consistency, dropping points on just two occasions, while also attempting to defend the European crown they claimed last year.

However, the Reds have taken their foot off the gas somewhat since returning from the winter break, with a Champions League last-16 first-leg defeat away to Atletico Madrid marking the beginning of their troubles.

That result was followed up by an unconvincing win over West Ham, before Liverpool surrendered their unbeaten top-flight record by losing 3-0 to Watford at Vicarage Road on Saturday.

Klopp was unable to inspire a quick response against Chelsea on Tuesday night as his side exited the FA Cup at the fifth-round stage after being humbled 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.

Liverpool will almost certainly still wrap up a first league title in 30 years and a second successive Champions League triumph cannot yet be ruled out, but Brown does not believe they can be measured against United’s 1998-1999 outfit.

“This Liverpool team is a very good team,” the former United defender told talkSPORT . 

“They’ve totally dominated in the league this season but until someone actually does the treble there are no comparisons to make.

“It’s not even a question to me at all! You can only compare when a team has actually done it. Winning the treble is such a difficult thing to do.”

United have fallen well behind Liverpool in English football’s pecking order in recent times, with 37 points currently separating the two sides in the top-flight standings.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has very different goals for the Red Devils, who are currently chasing a top-four finish along with success in the FA Cup and Europa League.

The Norwegian boss has faced plenty of criticism since taking over at Old Trafford, but Brown believes he is putting the foundations in place for future success.

“Ole’s a top man…I think he’s gone the right way about building the team,” he added.

“Ole brought in some signings at the beginning of the season in Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Dan James and in January Bruno Fernandes and Odion Ighalo have come in and I think it’s just starting to come together.

“I know Bruno has only been there a short time but you can see the confidence he brings to the team. He’s a player that wants to do well and he’s got the ability to do it. You can see players running in now and I think that’s a big step forward.

“The club can see what Ole’s doing and they’ll get behind him and support him.”

The Red Devils boss invested heavily in the Portugal international midfielder during the winter window and has seen him make an immediate impact

The arrival of “risk-taker” Bruno Fernandes means that Manchester United have found “four decent pieces in the jigsaw” across the last two transfer windows, says Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Back in the summer of 2019, the Red Devils moved to bring Daniel James, Harry Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka onto their books.

Big money was invested in three players that ticked home-grown boxes and boast plenty of potential for the future, with £80 million ($103m) man Maguire made the most expensive defender in world football.

Further funds were made available in January, with a protracted winter saga eventually seeing Portugal international midfielder Fernandes acquired from Sporting for €55m (£47m/$60m).

The 25-year-old playmaker has slotted seamlessly into the fold at Old Trafford, with Solskjaer pleased to see a long-term plan coming together.

The United boss told Sky Sports of Fernandes: “You need courage, you need to be a risk-taker at Manchester United. The fans demand it, the club demands it, it is what we’ve been brought up on with Sir Alex.

“Bruno coming in has boosted the players but for the supporters as well, they can see that we are putting pieces in place.

“I think most of them understand that you can’t put six or seven pieces in one go. We’ve had four decent pieces in the jigsaw.”

Solskjaer added on the qualities which attracted him to Fernandes and made United so determined to secure his signature: “When you go and see them live you just get that feeling of the player.

“What impressed me most that day was his personality. We knew about his skills and qualities.

“If you follow him and watch him all the time [you notice] that he cares so much and wants to win, he had that fire in him. I thought, yep, that’s the character we need.

“He won’t let anyone down. Letting the team down is the same as letting himself down. He wants to win and he knows we [win] together, everyone plays an important part. He’s been a positive boost.”

Fernandes and United will be back in action on Thursday when they take in an FA Cup fifth-round clash with Derby – with that contest set to see them reunited with the club’s all-time leading goalscorer, Wayne Rooney.

The Red Devils will go up against their record goalscorer at Pride Park and the reunion only serves to underline the size of the void he left behind

On Thursday evening, Manchester United will take on Derby County in the fifth round of the FA Cup. It means a reunion with Wayne Rooney – a player they have yet to replace.

Rooney, of course, remains a legend at Old Trafford. During his 13-year stay, he became the club’s all-time leading goalscorer. His tally of 253 goals is unlikely to ever be surpassed.

However, it is worth remembering that Rooney could have left long before 2017. Indeed, United almost lost Rooney in the summer following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013.

The manager told the press that the striker had put in another transfer request, though that might have been a proclamation designed to force him out of the club in his last move in charge of United.

Regardless, Rooney remained in Manchester, which was perhaps surprising given the intense interest from Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea in his services, not to mention the libel dispute between the England international and Ferguson’s successor, David Moyes.

Ultimately, United decided that it would be too risky to lose both Rooney and Ferguson in a single window and the forward was eventually given a £300,000-a-week contract renewal, which he signed in early 2014.

While that appeared to be the right move for the club at the time, to prevent chaos overtaking United immediately in the aftermath of Ferguson, he was never able to make a compelling case for his inclusion from that point on.

Poor fitness, diminishing pace and an increasingly weak first touch meant that Moyes, Louis van Gaal and then even Mourinho all attempted to shift him around the pitch to let him flourish, only to discover he was simply no longer capable of performing in the English top flight.

In truth, Rooney’s form had been on the wane since 2010, but Ferguson’s expertise had kept the side winning despite underinvestment.

The signing of Robin van Persie was a masterstroke that yielded one final Premier League title as it helped replicate Rooney’s once explosive qualities, while Shinji Kagawa was brought to the club in an attempt to add vim and guile to the midfield, further reducing the dependence on Rooney. 

Ultimately, Kagawa failed to properly adapt and Moyes’ miserable tenure arrested more than just the Japanese player’s progress.

With Van Persie a shadow of himself in the absence of the inspirational Ferguson, United needed Rooney to step up, or to properly replace him. They managed neither. And they are still searching for a successor.

Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward had wanted Cesc Fabregas and Gareth Bale to launch Moyes’ time at the club. Each of them probably would have been a huge success at Old Trafford, but instead Marouane Fellaini was bought in last-minute desperation.

Radamel Falcao and Angel Di Maria came and went, with the Argentine’s reported hatred for United only matched by the average United fan’s hatred for his unimpressive efforts.

Mourinho and Woodward would have been delighted if Paul Pogba had proven himself capable of being the club’s new talisman, but during the Portuguese’s tenure, only Zlatan Ibrahimovic provided sufficient brio and individual determination to make a difference to results.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan was another busted Dortmund flush, unable to apply himself convincingly. Alexis Sanchez should have been a sure thing; instead his lasting impression will be as a depreciating asset on the club’s financial ledger.

The club do at least appear aware that there are problems in attack and midfield, and have finally started to properly address the weakness.

Both Woodward and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer expected to sign Erling Haaland from Red Bull Salzburg in January, but, in circumstances that recall Woodward being surprised to see Bale in Madrid as he watched television, he turned up in Dortmund instead.

In something of a panic, United eventually signed Bruno Fernandes from Sporting C.P. after a brief period of brinkmanship between the two clubs and advisor Jorge Mendes. Now, the club have an attacking midfielder who can finally burst from deep and create chances, as Rooney did at his peak in United’s last great team, when he played interchangeably with Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez in attack.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Glazer family-owned club still plan to build out their offensive options, instead of doing just enough to get by.

Pogba is expected to leave for Real Madrid or Juventus, and so plans are being made to bring in at least one of Jack Grealish, Jadon Sancho and James Maddison, though that presupposes that Harry Kane does not become the priority should he attempt to force his way out of Tottenham this summer.

While too much time has passed for the club to think of it in such a way, with the team’s makeup changing from one season to the next, it is perhaps worth considering that United are simply looking for what Rooney once offered: he was an energetic forward, a deft playmaker, an energetic hustler and a leader.

As he retreated into himself, becoming one-dimensional and personally introverted before eventually departing, other players should have stepped up to cover for those weaknesses. But none have done so adequately.

The same could be said of the managers since Ferguson, of course.

The Scot and Rooney may have ultimately had an unsustainable relationship, but until the club find such two determined characters to drive them forward on and off the field, United will continue to struggle.