The FG leader, John Bruton, will know this afternoon in Brussels if he has been successful in his bid to become a vice president of the EPP (European Peoples Party). The lengthy interview with Bruton in the January bulletin of The Philip Morris Institute for Public Policy Research, circulated worldwide, has no doubt helped his campaign. Under the heading The Case for an Elected EU Government he argues that MEPs should elect the President of the European Commission (currently Jacques Santer) rather than having it fought over every five years by the 15 heads of government. Such a system would give the citizens a voice, he says and although it would mean the nominee of the largest group in parliament, the Socialists at the moment, becoming leader, that person would probably go on to chose the commissioners from within their own group. This system, he says, would oblige political groups to have a presence in each country, so forcing the creation of Europe-wide political parties - i.e. the Christian Democrats in the UK.
Some of this may seem rather strange coming from one who doubtless hopes to have the commissionership in his gift some day soon, but even stranger is that he gave an interview to the Philip Morris Institute, the global tobacco company. Only last December, on the budget debate, the FG leader and his spokesman on health, Alan Shatter, railed against the Government for not doing enough to combat smoking. Bruton told the Dail cigarette smoking was not socially beneficial and that a 5p increase on a pack of 20 was just not good enough.