ANYONE who thinks America’s presidential transitions take too long should spare a thought for the European Union. The European Commission has nearly a year of its mandate left to go, but its big beasts are already preparing to move on. Work is winding down ahead of the European elections next May. And the EU machinery may then not be fully staffed and running until 2015.Olli Rehn, the economics commissioner who has been at the center of the euro crisis, has announced that he will run for the European Parliament, partly in hopes of being chosen as the liberal alliance’s lead candidate to be the next commission president. Michel Barnier, the single-market commissioner, responsible for financial regulation, has thrown his hat in the ring for the Christian Democrats. Several others may be heading for the campaign trail, if only because they know their governments will not renominate them. Some fret that, come May, there might not even be a quorum in the college of commissioners.Next autumn all big jobs in Brussels will be up for grabs, including, besides the commission, the presidency of the European Council (representing national leaders), the EU’s foreign-policy…
