Monday

20th Mar 2023

Barroso urges EU states to appoint new commission president next week

EU leaders meeting for a summit in Brussels next week must appoint a new head of the European Commission and not delay the decision, said the current head of the institution and only candidate for the job, Jose Manuel Barroso.

Mr Barroso, whose mandate expires at the end of October, said EU leaders should take a decision on the next commission president based on the bloc's current treaty, the Nice Treaty.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • French Green leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit has called Mr Barroso a political "chameleon" (Photo: ec.europa)

"It's up to the council [EU member states] and the European parliament to decide, of course based on the treaty, and the treaty in force at the moment is the Treaty of Nice," he said at a press conference in Brussels.

"The European parliament was elected according to the Treaty of Nice," he stressed.

But some member states, notably France and Germany, are reportedly favourable to delaying the decision and giving a simple "political backing" to Mr Barroso next week.

Under this scenario, the next commission president would be appointed in October, at the same time as the new EU foreign minister and the EU president – new posts created by the Lisbon Treaty, which may by then have been ratified by the Irish in a second referendum.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who is today meeting German chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris, will only give France's position on the issue at the EU summit next week, government spokesperson Luc Chatel said.

The issue could become a sore point at the summit, with Sweden, as incoming EU presidency country, insisting that Mr Barroso be given the job a second time and with a full mandate from June.

Opposition forming in the parliament

If appointed next week, Mr Barroso would then have to be approved by the European Parliament, a simple majority under current rules.

While he can count on the centre-right EPP parliamentarians' vote, this will not suffice – they are expected to have 264 seats in the new parliament – and more allies will be needed to secure the Portuguese politician a second mandate.

But the Socialists, who have been unable to put forward an own candidate, have been critical of Mr Barroso and have indicated they would not support him for a second mandate.

"Mr Barroso stands for a policy which we opposed in the [EU] elections. I cannot recommend at the moment that my fraction supports Mr Barroso for a second term," Socialist group leader Martin Schulz told the Financial Times Deutschland on Wednesday.

The Socialists suffered a blow at the European elections, but remain the second biggest force in the new parliament with 161 seats.

Meanwhile, the Liberals – the third group in the house with 80 MEPs – seem to be divided on the issue. Their leader Graham Watson has indicated they could support Mr Barroso. It would be the "logical conclusion" for there to be a centre-right alliance of liberals and the EPP for the vote, he said earlier this week.

But French centrist leader Francois Bayrou, whose MoDem party sits with the Liberals and will send six MEPs in the new parliament, has said French liberals would vote against Mr Barroso. Italy's liberals would reportedly do so as well.

"If we have a mixed majority of liberals, democrats, greens, socialists, we can propose an alternative," Mr Bayrou was quoted as saying by news agency AFP on Tuesday, noting that his party has already suggested former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt for the job.

Mr Bayrou accepted a call by Daniel Cohn-Bendit, whose Europe Ecologie green movement in France surprised analysts by coming third (16.3%) in the elections and neck and neck with the Socialists (16.5%), to form a green-socialist-liberal coalition against the current commission president.

In an interview with French daily Liberation earlier this week, Mr Cohn-Bendit said he wanted to "get rid of" Mr Barroso, arguing that he is not only too liberal economically, "but he [also] is incapable of holding to a position."

The greens will have 53 seats in the new parliament, 14 of which taken by France.

Sarkozy and Merkel offer Barroso 'conditional' backing

France and Germany are refusing to give EU commission president Jose Manuel Barroso full formal backing to become head of the institution for a second time at next week's summit, insisting the support should be political only. The issue is building up to be a flash point at the traditional June summit.

MEPs press EU Commission over Qatari-paid business-class flights

Pro-transparency MEPs are asking probing questions into possible conflict of interest between a senior EU commission official and Qatar, following revelations his business class trips were paid by Doha while negotiating a market access deal for its national airline.

Feature

Germany as a laboratory of 'communism vs capitalism'

A new exhibition at the Deutsches Historiches Musuem in Berlin unveils industrial photography of Germany's steel, coal, car, chemical and textile industries from the 1950s to 1980s — some in East Germany, some in West. But which was which?

Column

Member states are taking more control — for better or worse?

Two major trends — more Europe and a more intergovernmental Europe — should get alarm bells ringing. The European Union risks becoming a bazaar dominated by national politicians haggling, doing handshakes, walking out and having tantrums.

Latest News

  1. 'Forever chemicals' industry hit by perfect storm
  2. EU summit zooms in on global roles This WEEK
  3. EU launches 'Hydrogen Bank' — but what is it?
  4. MEPs probing spyware 'stonewalled' by EU states
  5. Why the EU double standards on mental help for asylum seekers?
  6. 'Bravery has no gender', Ukrainian Nobel winner says
  7. Innovation and politics: an intertwined relationship
  8. Most Frontex deportations to take place from Germany, Italy

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality
  5. Promote UkraineInvitation to the National Demonstration in solidarity with Ukraine on 25.02.2023
  6. Azerbaijan Embassy9th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and 1st Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us