PRESIDENT OF the European Commission José Manuel Barroso last night received a re- endorsement from EU leaders for a second five-year term. The heads of government, meeting over dinner, reached a political agreement that will see Mr Barroso’s name put before the leaders of the European Parliament’s political groups next week for formal consultation ahead of actual renomination.
Mr Barroso, a Portuguese member of the centre-right EPP, is still the only candidate for the job after what many see as a lacklustre term. However, his candidature has provoked strong opposition from other groups, notably the leader of the Greens, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, although the latter has yet to nominate an alternative.
One name being suggested is that of the former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, who had previously sought the post unsuccessfully.
He is a liberal, however, and yesterday his party endorsed Mr Barroso. His renomination may, however, provoke a procedural row in the parliament. The EPP would like it to come to a vote in its first new session on July 14th and 15th in Strasbourg. But some MEPs want it deferred until the Lisbon Treaty, which sets a higher bar for parliamentary approval, comes into effect. Or that it should be carried out under the Lisbon rules. They are unlikely to prevail and the centre-right majority in the new parliament expects to win the vote, comfortably achieving the Lisbon absolute majority requirement anyway.
A new commission will not be nominated until after the Lisbon Treaty is ratified and parliamentary hearings on the nominees will probably take place in November or December.
Mr Barroso last night had to sing for his supper at the dinner as France insisted he put his programme for the next term before them before endorsement. “I believe that in a time of crisis we need more than ever a strong EU and a strong European Commission. We need more not less Europe,” he said echoing famous remarks of Francois Mitterrand.
Calling for continued EU leadership on economic reform and climate change, “investment in the future”, he rejected all forms of protectionism.
The president of the Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, also addressed the summit and appealed to the political leaders of the countries which had yet to ratify Lisbon to do so as soon as possible. “The European Parliament expressly supports the formulation of further clarifications and legal guarantees for Ireland,” he said. “On this basis the citizens of Ireland will be able to take their sovereign decision in the autumn.”
Meanwhile, as the new parliamentary groups begin the process of electing new leaders and building new alliances, it has emerged that the former Irish secretary general of the Fianna Fáil Union for Europe group, Frank Barrett, will not be joining the Liberals with his former colleagues. He is expected to agree to take on the job of secretary general of the new conservative group which the British Tories are creating.