Strasbourg, 18/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - In his response to the MEPs on Wednesday evening, José Manuel Barroso took a first commitment to look into changes to the inter-institutional agreement together with the Parliament, but he also stressed that he believed in the Commission's institutional position. "I really believe that we need a strong Commission more than ever to move the European project forward", he said, and then promised: "I am therefore ready to work with you in a fair, transparent and open way; I am prepared to have this positive working relationship with the European Parliament, but I have to say that this will not be done to the detriment of the Commission. I could not let this happen, because in Europe, we all need an independent, credible and strong Commission, in full respect of the Treaties".
Everything in his speech underlined both the commitment of the President designate to cooperate with the Parliament, and his strong desire to defend the place of the Commission in the institutional balance. But at the same time, José Manuel Barroso tried to explain why he could not please everybody on the composition of the Commission. "Because you make contradictory demands of me", said the President designate, adding: "I was moreover surprised to hear several members of a Parliamentary group expressing strong criticism of a Commissioner, the Competition Commissioner as it happens, when it was this same group which persistently asked me to keep the Commissioner in question in place".
During a meeting of the ALDE group a little later, having been called upon to explain himself, the British Liberal Democrat Graham Watson, the group's President, denied ever having asked for Ms Kroes to be kept in the Competition job. According to a French UDF MEP, he said that Mr Barroso had sought to "stir up trouble within the group". However, the President of the Commission was sticking to his guns. After the vote on Thursday, he was even more explicit: "Mr Watson said on several occasions that Ms Kroes was good for this portfolio".