Brussels, 03/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - In his Briefing Note of December 2004 entitled The Barroso Commission - A Tale of Lost Innocence, for the series A View from Brussels, Peter Ludlow gives a lively and detailed description of the ups and downs leading to the establishment of the College of Commissioners to succeed the Prodi Commission. He recognises that the Barroso President "had a very difficult start" and that "innocence, if not paradise, has been lost" in the process (which does not prevent "him becoming a good, and even a great, president").
According to Peter Ludlow, the way in which José Manuel Barroso managed his new responsibility in the first weeks after his nomination was "remarkable for at least six reasons": - the speed with which he acted; - his summary dismissal of certain "big ideas" recently floated about the structure of the Commission for an EU25 (such as that of a Super-Commissioner for the economy or the organisation of "clusters" of Commissioners); - his ability to find "useful jobs" for all of his 24 colleagues (although some are clearly more important than others); - the fact that he managed to give a high profile to most of the women in his team; - his qualities as a communicator; - and the fact that "Barroso behaved and sounded like a president from day one".
Generally speaking, Peter Ludlow considers that the European Commission is the "most vulnerable EU institution" and that its "future health" will require robust leadership and a good deal of help from its institutional partners. Mr Ludlow mainly raises the problem of the place to be held by Javier Solana within the Commission (once the European Constitution takes effect), saying: "President Barroso must therefore shine in the European Council, if his Commission is to have the impact that it ought to have". This is easier to say than do, all the more as the European Council itself is in a "process of profound and potentially far-reaching change", Peter Ludlow stresses. Thus, it is far too early to say how the new full time president of the European Council and the eighteen month 3 state team presidency envisaged in the treaty will work together, he says, considering "some kind of executive committee seems bound to emerge … despite small state opposition to the idea". Mr Ludlow considers Barroso is "highly qualified to play a leading role in the EU institutions" but that the presidency of the Commission is "a very special job" and "the times in which he will assume his responsibilities are far from normal". Much will depend on José Emmanuel Barroso's ability to establish "firm and reliable political bases in both Parliament and the European Council", Peter Ludlow says, recalling that two of his main allies at the European Council are the Austrian Chancellor and the Finnish Prime Minister, but that he also has good relations with the leaders of the larger countries, including Silvio Berlusconi and Tony Blair (Jacques Chirac and José Manuel Barroso are "again on exceptionally good terms" despite the resentment felt by the French president about the way in which the EPP blocked Guy Verhofstadt's application to the Commission, Mr Ludlow notes, citing the collaborators of the Commission president). Apart from the division between small and large Member States, another division that Mr Barroso will have to overcome is that between "Atlantists and Europeans", Mr Ludlow notes, recalling that Mr Barroso "has played down the American connection since being nominated" although "instinctively inclined towards Atlanticist positions", which is not all surprising as Portugal has always been one of the "Atlanticist member states since it joined the European Community in 1986". During the "pre-Maastricht negotiations for example, the Portuguese stood four-square with the British and the Dutch on security and defence policy", Peter Ludlow recalls. (Eurocomment, Avenue Général Eisenhower 28, 1030 Brussels. Tel: 02 241 5232. Fax: 216 8131. E-mail: info@eurocomment.be website: http: //http://www.eurcomment.be ).