Barroso backs one commissioner per country principle
RENATA GOLDIROVA
09.12.2008 @ 17:45 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has thrown his weight behind the idea of preserving the one country, one commissioner principle - the key pre-condition for Ireland to rerun a referendum on the failed Lisbon Treaty.
"I think it should not be a problem to have a commission with 27 members or more," Mr Barroso said on Tuesday (9 December) - hours before all 27 EU leaders meet later this week for what he called the "most crucial summit in recent years."
The overriding goal of this week's EU summit is to reach a deal on how to break through the Lisbon Treaty impasse (Photo: European Communities, 2008)
"We have empirical evidence it is possible for a commission to work with 27 members ...If it is a very important condition for Ireland I personally will support it," he added.
Under the Lisbon treaty, the EU's executive should slim down in 2014 so that it embraces representatives from only two-thirds of EU countries, with each capital represented in two commissions out of three.
The idea is to streamline decision-making as the EU bloc expands. During the two latest enlargements, some commissioners' portfolios were split in order to accommodate newcomers.
But Mr Barroso stressed that the pending treaty allowed to preserve the current state of play - one commissioner per country principle - and argued that it had been "paradoxically" easier to reach a compromise at the bigger table.
"I am convinced that we can respond to [Irish] national concerns, while finding a European solution," he said, adding that "The overriding goal of the EU council must be to set out a credible way forward, which will enable Ireland to ratify [the treaty]."
According to one EU diplomat speaking to EUobserver, Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen is set to confront his counterparts with two requests that would form a "strong platform" for Ireland to hold a second referendum on the failed treaty.
The first one is linked to the commission issue, while the second one speaks of so-called "legal guarantees" in the field of neutrality, taxation, labour law and in ethical matters such as abortion and gay marriage.
The Irish leader is not going to receive hands up from all sitting at the table, however, as a handful of countries - namely Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands - are sticking to the Lisbon treaty ambition of having a slimmer executive body eventually.
On the other hand, recent EU members tend to identify with the Irish stance, as they view their commission representatives as an important information link to the executive body.
Italy and France have also shown some sympathy for the Irish demand, a diplomat said.
Regarding the request for so-called legal guarantees in three sensitive policy areas, one scenario floated in EU circles suggests that those guarantees could be tied to another EU treaty - such as the first new accession treaty. This would allow avoiding any obligation of a fresh round of ratifications of the Lisbon treaty.
Given the legal complexity of the issue, a diplomat said that the second Irish referendum will arrive no earlier than in September or October 2009 - meaning that the European Parliament elections held in June will follow the current Nice Treaty rules.
"The European elections will most likely be held under the Nice treaty," the commission president, Jose Barroso, told journalists in Brussels.
