04/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - Delors does not like his successor to be ignored. Highly critical words from the former president of the European Commission, Jacques Delors, were heard at a conference of the group of German Greens at the European Parliament, held in Berlin in late January. According to an analysis by Philippe Lemaître and published in Le Monde, the former president of the Community executive “indirectly distanced himself from the Lisbon Treaty, regretting the fact that from now on, the right of initiative goes on the one hand to Herman Van Rompuy, the permanent president of the Council, and on the other to the European Parliament, leaving the Commission reduced to the role of expert, which he feels is not appropriate and not in any case one to which it is particularly well suited”. Although he acknowledged the expertise of Van Rompuy himself, he spoke out against the role of “conductor of an invisible orchestra” conferred upon him by the Treaty. Delors went on to criticise the “contempt” in which the current Commission president, José Manuel Durão Barroso, is held, compared to Van Rompuy. (Gp/transl.fl)