Barroso accused of going soft on big EU states

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has come under fire from his colleagues for making compromises in favour of large EU member states in a bid to secure a second term for himself, according to the Financial Times.

The paper reports that three commissioners usually branded as free-market promoters -Ireland's Charlie McCreevy in charge of internal market, Dutch competition commissioner Neelie Kroes and Britain's trade chief Peter Mandelson - expressed their discontent with Mr Barroso during last week's commission meeting.

Mr McCreevy reportedly warned the commission chief that the EU executive could be accused of partiality by small member states if it continued to strike deals with big member states, such as Mr Barroso's recent attempt to freeze two internal market-related infringement procedures against Germany.

Another case involved France, with the commission president shelving a proposal to reform the EU's copyright levies regime following intense lobbying from Paris.

"A lot of what he does can be explained by the fact he is looking to a second term," a senior EU official told the paper.

Germany and France had reservations when Mr Barroso was nominated to become the EU executive's chief in 2004 while the UK supported him as a liberal reformer.

The commission is supposed to be impartial and represent European rather than national interests but its initiatives and legislative proposals need support from member states to get through.