MEPs agree to ratify Prodi nomination to EU presidency

MEPs have made it clear they will today ratify the nomination of the EU Commission President-designate, Mr Romano Prodi, during a debate which also saw the promise of a major shift in the institutional balance in their favour.

Acknowledging the lessons of the resignation of the European Commission, the German Minister for Europe, Mr Gunther Ver heugen, speaking for the presidency, promised yesterday that member-states would put the issue of the right of MEPs to recall and sack individual commissioners on the agenda for the next conference on treaty reform.

However, even such a long-term promise might not be enough for MEPs who believe they can win the effective right to sack commissioners ahead of any treaty change. The tussle for power between the parliament and the next Commission has begun already, with the leader of the Liberal group, Mr Pat Cox (Ind, Munster), demanding of Mr Prodi, without success, to know what would happen to individual commissioners who lost the confidence of parliament.

The leader of the Socialist group, Ms Pauline Green, warned that in the parliamentary hearings on the new Commission, now fixed for the first week in September, the new team "will have a bit of trouble getting through" unless most of those proposed by Mr Prodi accepted that they should resign if they were seen as incompetent or corrupt by MEPs.

Mr Prodi reiterated many of the general themes of reform and closer economic integration which he addressed last month. He was more specific on the sort of changes he would envisage within the Commission - an insistence on a break with the tradition of cabinets made up largely from nationals of particular commissioners; clear lines of demarcation between political cabinets responsible for strategy and the administration of policies by the Commission services; the accountability of senior officials; and the reorganisation of the Commission itself to group policy areas under vice-presidents.

Mr Prodi also spoke of the need for Europe to respond to the challenge of Kosovo by creating a defence capability, "a sine qua non if we are to maintain peace and stability". He called on the EU to convene a major international conference on the Balkans once the fighting has ended to begin the process of regional reconstruction.

Ms Green welcomed Mr Prodi's nomination but expressed regret at his failure to talk about the need to make priorities of social exclusion and poverty.

Mr Wilfried Martens, leader of the Europe People's Party, echoed Mr Prodi's call for the strengthening of European security structures. The lesson of Kosovo, he said, was that "we need more Europe". There was a need to redress the strategic imbalance between the EU and the US in NATO, he argued.

Mr Pat "the Cope" Gallagher (FF, Connacht-Ulster) said the parliament must recognise that if the Commission was to function properly, it might require more staffing resources. He backed the call for making enlargement a priority, but insisted that "these countries endeavour to comply with as much of the EU body of law through its directives and regulations as possible".