Brussels, 14/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the President of the Socialist group at the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, expressed concern that before he had even read the assessment letters written by the parliamentary committees which have been organising hearings of the members of the new team of Commissioners Designate, José Manuel Durao Barroso had told reporters that everything was in order, and that Rocco Buttiglione was the right man in the right job (see above). Schulz said that Barroso could not simply ignore a parliamentary committee's assessment of Rocco Buttiglione, and warned that the Socialist group expected him to reshuffle the portfolio's on his team of Commissioners, adding that he would personally contact Barroso to tell him this directly. If he turns a deaf ear, added Schulz, I will have to recommend that the Socialist group rejects the Commission en bloc (since the EP does not have the power to reject individual candidates).
Speaking in French the German Social Democrat repeated that if Mr Barroso did not take into account the position of MEPs, he did not see how they could improve this Commission. During the investiture of the Barroso candidate last July, the overwhelming majority of the Socialist group refused to give José Manuel Barroso the vote of confidence, recalled Mr Schulz. Schulz was concerned about the way in which the president-designate was now managing this conflict and his intentions about cooperation with parliament. If Rocco Buttiglione himself renounced the post of Commissioner, how could his most recent declarations be interpreted? On this point the Austrian Social Democrat Hannes Swoboda, as well as Schulz emphasised that the Socialist group had indicated told the public freedoms committee that it would agree to Buttiglione remaining Commission vice president but in another post (and not as successor to Antonio Vitorino). Swoboda pointed out that it was the EPP-ED group during the second vote at the freedoms committee that wanted to "show that it was clever" by not allowing Buttiglione another post. Result, the majority of the Commission believes that Buttiglione should go (majority of 28 votes to 25: EUROPE 12 October p 9). Schulz said that he considered Buttiglione poorly adapted for a post dealing with EU fundamental rights and other aspects of this portfolio, such as immigration. Schulz admitted that Otto Schily had ideas similar to those of the Commissioner-designate on the subject of creating refugee centres in third countries etc.
During the same press conference, Hannes Swoboda asserted that the judgement of the Socialist group on the different candidates had not been "partisan". He was clear that they had focused on the competencies of the candidates on issues they would have to be dealing with. Swoboda said that the general result from the hearings was a "very good leading squad" with a wide "middle ground" and a "few problem areas". In this context he acknowledged that he was a long time friend of Laszlo Kovacs from Hungary and admitted that he had not prepared his energy dossier very well, despite being a genuine politician who would have been able to deal with the issue eventually. Speaking about the Commissioner-designate for competition, Neelie Kroes, Swoboda indicated that Mr Barroso had to explain to them how his Commission could tackle affairs in which no compatibility existed due to Kroes' past experience. Jan Marinus Wiersma from the Netherlands raised the case of Ingrida Udre from Latvia, explaining that they had been unable to definitively clarify suspicions of illegal funding for her party and that Mr Barroso should provide guarantees about her integrity. He also underlined the Socialist group's interest in the development of the tax dossier, the main job of Ms Udre.