EUROPEAN DIARY:The commission president expects Ireland to make its contribution to a more democratic, stable and strong union, writes JAMIE SMYTH
IRISH VOTERS face a stark choice on October 2nd: vote Yes to the Lisbon Treaty and retain the automatic right to appoint a commissioner or vote No and lose that right, says European Commission president José Manuel Barroso.
In an interview with The Irish Times, Barroso says he expects Ireland to make its contribution to a more democratic, stable and strong EU by voting Yes to the Lisbon Treaty to enable it to come into force later this year.
“With Lisbon it would always be possible to have one commissioner per member state . . . if you keep Nice then member states will not have the possibility to send a member to the commission all the time. So that is an important argument to vote for Lisbon I believe,” says Barroso, who over the past five years has led the EU executive.
Under the terms of the Nice Treaty the right of all EU states to appoint a commissioner will end when the next EU executive is appointed. Nice says there must be less commissioners than states without specifying how this should be achieved. Lisbon includes a clause enabling all states to continue appointing people to the commission.
Barroso rejects Sinn Féin’s recent claim that the commission can stay at 27 members under the existing Nice rules. “It is obvious, it is law. It is the treaty and cannot change. If we don’t have a positive vote on Lisbon, some countries will not have a commissioner. One or more countries,” he insists.
He dismisses as inaccurate arguments made by the Dutch and German governments before the Irish No vote to Lisbon last June that a commission of 27 members is inefficient and needs to be reduced in size to make it work more effectively.
“The commission can work perfectly well with 27 or, if necessary, some more amount of commissioners. There are many governments in Europe that have more members of government than 27,” says Barroso, who analysts have pointed out, naturally enjoys a stronger political position within a commission with more members.
He cites the permanent European Council president created via Lisbon, which would replace the six-month rotating EU presidency that exists under Nice, as a key innovation that will make Europe stronger.
“If you can believe an institution can work properly with four different presidents a year, I just ask you show me another one? I don’t know any, from a football club to a United Nations,” says Barroso, who because of the fall of the Czech government this year has worked alongside council presidents Mirek Topolanek, Jan Fischer and Vaclav Klaus at various times over the past three months.
He claims he is not worried that a permanent council president will eclipse him, saying he is “not interested in turf wars”. But he stresses both positions will have to work in tandem.
“Whoever he or she is, without perfect co-ordination between the two, the EU will not work properly. But I believe the system is done in such a way that it will work well.”
The Irish No to Lisbon has complicated his own bid to stay on as president of the commission for another five years. Despite being formally nominated by all 27 heads of state as the only candidate for the post, MEPs have so far refused to schedule a vote to confirm Barroso. They have insisted that the nomination procedure should follow the rules set out in the Lisbon Treaty even though it has not yet come into force. The Liberals and Socialists in the European Parliament also want Barroso to negotiate his programme of work for the next five years before agreeing to back him for the job. Some parliament insiders believe the delaying tactic is an attempt to unseat him: the Socialists don’t want Barroso because they say he is a neo-liberal while the Liberal leader in the parliament Guy Verhofstadt – former Belgian prime minister – has designs on the job.
“It’s the responsibility of the parliament to decide the dates of the vote . . . but of course the sooner the better. It’s obvious for stability and clarity,” says Barroso, who is privately concerned that a delay until October – after a Yes vote in Ireland – could create competition for the post when two other jobs are thrown into the mix: council president and EU foreign policy chief.
His advisers have also warned senior MEPs that uncertainty over the post of commission president could polarise public opinion before the crucial Irish vote in October.
“I’m the only candidate. I am the only one that presented before the elections and that is a very important point. I think we need some transparency so that candidates are not found in negotiations behind the doors.”
He pinpoints the commission’s work on tackling climate change as one of his key achievements. “If there is an issue we are leading on, it is this one,” says Barroso, who cites the EU’s binding target to achieve a 20 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 as an example of leadership. “It was our proposal, it was my proposal for a climate change agenda,” he says.
He also rejects the allegation made by Greens and Socialists in the parliament that he is a neo-liberal. “I am a reformist of the centre,” says Barroso, who could find out tomorrow whether MEPs plan to vote on his candidature in September or October.