Brussels, 01/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - One hundred days after taking up its duties on 22 November 2004, José Manuel Barroso's European Commission on Tuesday declared itself satisfied with the work hitherto accomplished. “From the outset, this Commission has concentrated mainly on economic matters: relaunching the Lisbon strategy, the stability pact and the financial perspectives”. This was a “deliberate decision” that the Commission “and the President in particular” had wanted to make, a senior official close to Mr Barroso told the press on Tuesday. This focus on economic issues was “probably one of the main reasons why judgements have been made of the Commission's policy, considering it either to be too liberal or not liberal enough”, he said.
Alongside economic matters, the Barroso Commission's ”key objectives” were to consolidate the enlarged EU, a desire to “make Europe work”, and to develop its economic potential. Over the first hundred days, several measures had already been put in place to achieve these goals, namely: - the adoption of strategic targets for 2005-2009 “based around prosperity, solidarity and security (…), key issues for European citizens, the “man in the street”; - the adoption of the 2005 working programme; - the decision to relaunch the Lisbon strategy with at its centre a “return to the goal of economic recovery, because there will be no new jobs without growth”. Alongside this, the Commission sought “a modernisation of the European social model based on social solidarity, cohesion and environmental protection”. “It is this balance between economic and social aspects that has been the Commission's guiding principle for the Lisbon relaunch”, said the senior official; - the adoption of a “new social agenda”; - the adoption of a communication on sustainable development “which remains the key objective”; - the relaunch of transatlantic policy. The Commission had also responded “extremely quickly” to the tsunami in Asia. Despite all this action, it was noticeable that the Commission had so far adopted very few legislative proposals. “We want to do better legislation, based on the principle of subsidiarity. This means that we want to legislate only if it is useful and necessary to legislate. This Commission is not an over-legislating Commission, but one that will legislate better using impact assessments before proposing new legislation”.
The Barroso Commission's first hundred days had also been “marked by a new working method” based on “the desire for partnership with the other institutions (…) in anticipation of the Constitution” (for example via the adoption of a work programme). “Pragmatism” was another aspect to the Barroso team's new way of working. “This is a Commission that wants to be judged on its actions, not on its good intentions”, and which would make concrete proposals as work progressed in order to implement its proposals. The Commission wanted to listen, “especially to member states and the other institutions in order to break deadlock on proposals that are not progressing”. The Barroso Commission had already had an opportunity to apply this “listening approach” in two specific cases, the directive on the liberalisation of services and the REACH legislation. Mr Barroso's wish “to make Europe together with the member states” did not, however, mean that the Commission would refuse to play its role as “guardian of the treaties” and to make its voice heard when “standing up for principles”. In the case, for example, of the directive on the liberalisation of services, “the Commission defends the principle of liberalisation (…) but we must also be realistic and note that matters are at a standstill over issues that are difficult for certain member states. That is why the Commission is at pains to preserve the principle of liberalisation whilst seeking pragmatic means of guiding the directive through”. Furthermore, the Barroso Commission was “working for the long term” in the knowledge that its mandate was for 2,000 days and that its work would be “a marathon not a sprint”. On the Commission's internal organisation, the different groups of Commissioners were in place and debates on political direction were held in meetings of the college before important decisions were taken. So far, decisions had been made unanimously among the Commissioners, the senior official pointed out. “The Commission is therefore more collegiate than you might think”, he told the press.
What had not gone well over the first hundred days? The Commission needed to improve “the way opinions are expressed” by Commissioners, “not because there are divergences within the Commission, this is not the case, but because sometimes opinions are expressed which are not completely what the policy line is at that time”. This communications problem was undoubtedly due to a “lack of experience” on the part of the head of the new Commissioners. That said, Mr Barroso did not expect his 24 colleagues always to share the same opinion on everything, especially as he wanted the Commission to be a “political Commission” and he was “happy” to have “good debates” within the college. “The President has never been in favour of a doctrinaire approach”.