Brussels, 21/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - During the meeting of the Conference of Presidents of political groups on Thursday with the president-designate of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, the EPP-ED and UEN Groups were "absolutely" in favour of the future Commission, the ALDE Group expressed reserve, and the PES ("particularly critical") has still to decide, whereas Jens-Peter Bonde predicted a "no" from Independence and Democracy and the Greens/EFA and United Left/NGL were clearly against. Such were the indications given during the joint press conference with José Manuel Barroso, by the president of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell, who wished to be "cautious". The Treaty is what it is, he recalled, saying "we cannot throw out any individual Commissioners". The meeting with Mr Barroso must not be seen as "a clash", trying to see "who wins and who loses", he warned, welcoming the fact that the hearings of Commissioners-designate had not been just a "formality" or a "corner café conversation". It was "only natural" for MEPs to have different opinions on 24 candidates, José Manuel Barroso commented for his part, after stressing more than once the importance of the role of the European Parliament in this process, while appealing to its sense of responsibility.
"I went as far as I could" to take into account the doubts expressed by some MEPs, and "I heard the message" from Parliament, especially that about the importance it attributes to fundamental laws and to non-discrimination, Mr Barroso told the press. He pointed out that, for this reason, he wished to "raise the political profile" of the matter by deciding to personally chair a new group of Commissioners concerned - Rocco Buttiglione of course, "who remains Commissioner for Justice and Security" (Ed.: and hence also for Citizens' Freedoms), but also Margot Wallström, responsible for institutional relations; Vladimir Spidla designated for Social Affairs, and the Commissioners responsible for relations with third countries, Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Louis Michel.
Rocco Buttiglione, Mr Barroso said, had written him a letter in which he "deeply regrets" the difficulties and the problems that have "arisen as a consequence of (his) hearing in front of the Liberties Committee". In his letter, Mr Buttiglione goes on to say: "I did not intend in any way to offend the feelings of anybody and in particular of women and homosexuals. Words so emotionally charged as 'sin' should perhaps not be introduced in the political debate". Mr Barroso agrees, and, speaking to a reporter who asked him whether homosexuality was indeed a "sin" in his eyes (as for Mr Buttiglione), he said: "speaking of sin in a political debate is not helpful (…). It is a theological question, and my competences in this field are very, very limited". In his letter, Mr Buttiglione states: "I am against any kind of discrimination and I fully subscribe to the Charter of Fundamental Rights and to the Constitution of the Union. … I would not like to be discriminated against by anybody because of my religious or philosophical beliefs". Mr Buttiglione recognises that "implementation of the non-discrimination principle, as provided for in Article 13 of the Treaty, and the related issue of human rights, could not fall within the sphere of competency of any single Commissioner. They fall under the collegial responsibility of the whole Commission and I accept that they should be directly supervised and guaranteed by the President". Finally, although he does not expect a conflict to arise between his "conscience" and his "duty" as a Commissioner, Mr Buttiglione announces that, if ever this were the case, that he would be ready to formally ask the President to be "exonerated from the execution of a particular act and to be substituted in it" by a colleague. Mr Barroso states for his part that, for the choice to the post of justice and home affairs he had even "consulted the current Commissioner, Antonio Vitorino, a secular Socialist, and he recommended Mr Buttiglione after seeing his curriculum".
Mr Barroso went on to say that, what counts is that within the college there can be "twenty-five opinions but a single policy" decided by that College under the political guidance of the President. It is finally thanks to observations by MEPs that his Commission will attach even greater importance to combating discrimination - either sexual or religious - he exclaimed, saying: "I have come a long way in the direction of the groups that had voted against me" during the July plenary, although he has not as yet met 100% of their demands. But, he continued, "that's democracy" and "I told the Conference of Presidents that I am radically democrat". Mr Barroso declared himself to be "absolutely convinced that the majority in parliament" will place its trust in the College as a whole, appealing to MEPs' sense of responsibility. "If two or three Commissioners do not meet with your satisfaction, would it be reasonable to bring the whole College down? Of course not", Mr Barroso said, inviting MEPs to "take into account the consequences of a negative vote".
Pöttering: EPP-ED group votes unanimously for Barroso Commission
Satisfaction all round at EPP-ED. Hans-Gert Pöttering the president of the group informed the press that he was pleased with the proposal to set up a group of commissioners to supervise non-discrimination policy and fundamental rights. With the exception of a single British Conservative who voted against Barroso's team, "my group will vote unanimously in favour of the whole of the Commission", which means that the EPP-ED no longer objects to other designated Commissioners: Laszlo Kovacs, Neelie Kroes, Ingrida Udre or Marian Fischer-Boel. Pöttering pointed out that his group had voted for a "European sense of responsibility" in 1999 for the Prodi Commission even if it was not part of the Christian Democrat party and "despite the fact that we had just won the European elections". He also said that this vote should be seen in light of the signing of the constitution two days later on 29 October in Rome. The Buttiglione letter, according to Mr Pöttering, is an "important element" in the evaluation of Mr Buttiglione's personality but "one did not have to be a Christian to respect Mr Buttiglione's views", who by writing this letter had recognised "how each of us has strengths and weaknesses". Mr Pöttering said that the hearings had been "very useful", particularly because that had informed Mr Barroso of where the weak points lay in his team. Pöttering said, in response to the idea that in the future perhaps there would be a need for the EP to be able to vote on each individual Commissioner, that this would be too complicated and what counted was the "overall image" and the "good balance" of the Commission.
Schulz: the proposal is "disappointing and insufficient" and does not change the PES' position at all which will vote by a very large majority against the Commission - the "Buttiglione problem" is also become the "Barroso problem"
PES group president Martin Schulz described the ideas expressed by Mr Barroso as "disappointing" and explained that they did not change the position of the PES at all, which was preparing to vote against the Commission. "This is what I am going to recommend to my group and I expect an overwhelming majority against the Commission". The proposal to set up a group of Commissioners to supervise non-discrimination policy was a "cosmetic measure", according to Schultz when he addressed the press. He also underlined the act that Mr Barroso's views expressed at the Conference of the Presidents remained "clearly less than what he expected after our meeting on Tuesday" (EUROPE 20 October p 4). Mr Buttiglione's letter to Mr Barroso had only "limited credibility" in the eyes of Mr Schultz.
The case of Neelie Kroes (and the revelation made on Thursday that according to the Commissioner-designate she had also been a lobbyist in the past for Lockeed Martin) also alarmed the PES. Schulz said that what they had learned "today" meant that the decision concerning Kroes was becoming increasingly difficult. He also said that the problem involving the investiture of the new Commission was not only a "Buttiglione problem" but also a "Barroso problem". Schulz said that he did not think that Barroso could obtain the confidence of most of the European Parliament if he ignored the hearing results. He also pointed out that Barroso was the "president of the Commission proposed by the EPP". Given that Barroso had not made "substantial offers" to the PES group "I have to ask why, as a Socialist, I should vote for him". Schulz said that the political orientation of the Barroso Commission was fundamentally "Conservative-Liberal" and would play an enormous role in the current debate and explained to a large extent the tensions created by the declarations voiced by Buttiglione. He also repeated the appeal by Mr Barroso to the EP to assume its responsibilities and not provoke an institutional crisis by refusing confidence to the Commission. Schulz said that there was nothing dramatic or abnormal if the executive did not get a majority at Parliament as in a democracy this scenario was as normal as the contrary scenario. He averred that the fact that Gerhard Schröder (social democrat) sought the approval of the Barroso team was "logical" but that the Chancellor would respect the freedom of the European Parliament's vote.
Mr Barroso said to have reassured the Conference of President on the subject of problems raised about other candidates: Neelie Kroes. He was asked what he would do about the Commissioner-designate for competition and whether he would publish an assessment by the Commission's legal service on her past activities in the business world. He was also asked whether he would ask the Director General for competition to inform him personally about any conflicts of personal interest and if he would ask Ms Kroes, in such an event to keep out of the case in question (which should be the case involving the US defence group Lockheed Martin for whom she had been an adviser between the end of 1996 and 1997, as revealed by the Wall Street Journal: Editor's note) "yes, yes, yes", replied Barroso. Asked about the Commissioner-designate for taxation Ingrida Udre about possible illegal funding of her party, Barrroso replied that Udre had been a member of the Latvian parliament and they had their procedures. But if something comes up against any of them he would ask them to resign, he said.
According to Andrew Duff, three quarters of the Liberal group are dissatisfied
Andrew Duff from Britain informed the press on Thursday that "three quarters of the ALDE group is now opposed to Rocco Buttiglione" taking up his post. This position is supported by Italians, the French and British and rejected by the Dutch and Danes.
Inadequate changes, according to Jean-Louis Bourlangues
Speaking in a personal capacity, Jean-Louis Bourlangues (ALDE, France), president of the freedoms committee stated in a press statement that Mr Barroso was proposing both "a dismembering of the portfolio initially attributed to Mr Buttiglione and keeping a tight reign on him, accompanied by an act of contrition by Buttiglione, which actually affects his fundamental rights". Proposals which are unsatisfactory as this breaking up of the post went against "legitimate demands" of making the protection of fundamental rights a "federating element" in the portfolio in question, whereas this would be a " lack of respect for Mr Buttiglione and would result in a degraded Commissioner in charge of an amputated portfolio". Bourlanges says that the only solution is to stick to the integral portfolio and give Mr Buttiglione other duties.
Daniel Cohn-Bendit requests new proposal
At the end of Thursday's meeting, the co-president of the Green/EFA group Daniel Cohn-Bendit declared in a press release that, "If Mr Barroso sticks to his new proposals, Mr Kovacs will become Commissioner for permanent education, Ms Kroes part time Commissioner, Ms Boel will take a written test to catch up, Ms Udre will be Commissioner under surveillance…and Mr Buttiglione Commissioner without Portfolio". This is why the Greens are launching a final appeal to Mr Barroso to come out with a new proposal, in the belief that "such a Commission would find it difficult to last out the five years".
Francis Wurtz on the First vice president of the future Commission had his "liberal economic fundamentalism"
In a press release, the president of the United Left/NGL group, Francis Wurtz affirmed that the expected sharing out of portfolios in the future Commission "leave one stunned at times" but especially because the latent defect "tarnishes the whole Commission: it is its liberal fundamentalism, embodied so perfectly by its president". The 17 components of the group have therefore announced that on 27 October they will vote against the Barroso Commission.
Marco Pannella, Buttiglione will be a "time bomb"
On Thursday morning in an address to the press, Italian Radical Marco Pannella (ALDE) stated that the best solution in the Buttiglione case would be to get the designated Commissioner to stand down with the agreement of Silvio Berlusconi and José Manuel Barroso. Expressing his doubts about the selection of such a candidate, Pannella described Buttiglione as a real "time bomb". Pannella said, however, that he was prepared to support the ALDE decision, which through the voice of its president Graham Watson, is calling for a change in portfolio. This suggestion was confirmed by Emma Bonino, who completed the view of her Radical colleague speaking live from Cairo, affirming that the envisaged decoupling of security and freedom was not a solution. She stated that, "out of tradition and wisdom, the European Parliament had never sought to distinguish between these two areas". What alternative is there to Rocco Buttiglione's resignation? Marco Pannellla supports the candidacy of Emma Bonino, former Commissioner for humanitarian aid and fisheries.