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Member States bargain over top jobs
EU's compromise choice for top job faces rocky road ahead
- 30 June 2004
European Commission president Jose Manuel Durao Barroso will face the unenviable task of reinvigorating the European Union and healing its deep divisions when he assumes the bloc's top post.
The conservative Portuguese prime minister was unanimously nominated by the 25 EU leaders late Tuesday at what may have been the fastest summit in the bloc's history, lasting less than half an hour.
The selection ended weeks of wrangling -- notably among heavyweights Britain, France and Germany -- over who would replace Romano Prodi at the helm of the powerful EU executive for a five-year term beginning in November.
"We have gone through some difficult times and other difficulties will surely lie ahead, but we are tackling them in the right way and Jose Manuel Durao Barroso is the right person to hold this office of great responsibility and sensitivity," Prodi said.
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, whose country takes over the rotating EU presidency on Thursday, praised the Portuguese politician as a "model European" who could bridge the divides separating the bloc's member states.
"Mr. Barroso can be a binding force in Europe," Balkenende told reporters in The Hague.
Before taking the reins of the commission, however, he will have to withstand grilling during confirmation hearings next month at the European Parliament, where Socialists and Liberals have branded him the "lowest-common-denominator" candidate.
"Will he be capable and able to work for unifying European competitiveness and social engagement, so that nobody is pushed out of our society as a consequence of market forces?" the head of the Party of European Socialists, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, asked Wednesday.
But despite doubts from the left wing, the dominant conservative bloc in parliament will ensure the approval of the Portuguese leader, allowing him to take office November 1.
Durao Barroso, a Maoist revolutionary-turned middle-of-the-road statesman, will immediately be plunged into the messy task of dividing up seats on the commission at one of the most challenging junctures in EU history.
Each of the 25 nations will be granted a commissioner. But the race is already raging for the top posts including competition, the internal market and what is expected to be a newly created job of "super-commissioner" for economic and industrial policy.
"I think it's also important to have a good coordinated relationship with the heads of government but the decision of the distribution of the different portfolios is a responsibility of the president of the commission," said Durao Barroso, who has already been bombarded with wish lists from member states.
The 48-year-old will also lead the commission during what is expected to be an uphill battle to adopt the EU's first-ever constitution, which was agreed upon at a hard-fought summit this month.
After it is signed in Rome in November, the member nations will then have two years to ratify the historic document, either by parliamentary vote or by national referendum, before it is planned to take effect at the end of 2006.
Failure, which is far from impossible, would send the EU into a political tailspin that would test Durao Barroso's skills to the limit.
In December, EU leaders will face the loaded question of whether to launch membership negotiations with predominantly Muslim Turkey -- a move that will carry important political implications no matter how the decision falls.
Other long-term projects are no less daunting including pursuing further enlargement of the EU, overseeing the rules underpinning the euro and negotiating a budget to see the bloc through 2013.
With all the headaches that will likely come on Durao Barroso's watch, Britain's rejected candidate for the post, EU External Affairs Commissioner and the chancellor of Oxford University Chris Patten, hinted he was secretly pleased to be out of the running.
"I have spent part of this week in Oxford and I have to say that a couple of days in Oxford have left me feeling anything but disappointment that I won't be spending my next five years slogging around, responsible for the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and all sorts of delights like that," he said.
Copyright © 2004 AFP.
Member States bargain over top jobs
EU's compromise choice for top job faces rocky road ahead
- 30 June 2004
European Commission president Jose Manuel Durao Barroso will face the unenviable task of reinvigorating the European Union and healing its deep divisions when he assumes the bloc's top post.
The conservative Portuguese prime minister was unanimously nominated by the 25 EU leaders late Tuesday at what may have been the fastest summit in the bloc's history, lasting less than half an hour.
The selection ended weeks of wrangling -- notably among heavyweights Britain, France and Germany -- over who would replace Romano Prodi at the helm of the powerful EU executive for a five-year term beginning in November.
"We have gone through some difficult times and other difficulties will surely lie ahead, but we are tackling them in the right way and Jose Manuel Durao Barroso is the right person to hold this office of great responsibility and sensitivity," Prodi said.
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, whose country takes over the rotating EU presidency on Thursday, praised the Portuguese politician as a "model European" who could bridge the divides separating the bloc's member states.
"Mr. Barroso can be a binding force in Europe," Balkenende told reporters in The Hague.
Before taking the reins of the commission, however, he will have to withstand grilling during confirmation hearings next month at the European Parliament, where Socialists and Liberals have branded him the "lowest-common-denominator" candidate.
"Will he be capable and able to work for unifying European competitiveness and social engagement, so that nobody is pushed out of our society as a consequence of market forces?" the head of the Party of European Socialists, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, asked Wednesday.
But despite doubts from the left wing, the dominant conservative bloc in parliament will ensure the approval of the Portuguese leader, allowing him to take office November 1.
Durao Barroso, a Maoist revolutionary-turned middle-of-the-road statesman, will immediately be plunged into the messy task of dividing up seats on the commission at one of the most challenging junctures in EU history.
Each of the 25 nations will be granted a commissioner. But the race is already raging for the top posts including competition, the internal market and what is expected to be a newly created job of "super-commissioner" for economic and industrial policy.
"I think it's also important to have a good coordinated relationship with the heads of government but the decision of the distribution of the different portfolios is a responsibility of the president of the commission," said Durao Barroso, who has already been bombarded with wish lists from member states.
The 48-year-old will also lead the commission during what is expected to be an uphill battle to adopt the EU's first-ever constitution, which was agreed upon at a hard-fought summit this month.
After it is signed in Rome in November, the member nations will then have two years to ratify the historic document, either by parliamentary vote or by national referendum, before it is planned to take effect at the end of 2006.
Failure, which is far from impossible, would send the EU into a political tailspin that would test Durao Barroso's skills to the limit.
In December, EU leaders will face the loaded question of whether to launch membership negotiations with predominantly Muslim Turkey -- a move that will carry important political implications no matter how the decision falls.
Other long-term projects are no less daunting including pursuing further enlargement of the EU, overseeing the rules underpinning the euro and negotiating a budget to see the bloc through 2013.
With all the headaches that will likely come on Durao Barroso's watch, Britain's rejected candidate for the post, EU External Affairs Commissioner and the chancellor of Oxford University Chris Patten, hinted he was secretly pleased to be out of the running.
"I have spent part of this week in Oxford and I have to say that a couple of days in Oxford have left me feeling anything but disappointment that I won't be spending my next five years slogging around, responsible for the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and all sorts of delights like that," he said.
Copyright © 2004 AFP.
publicado por MP às 11:01
