Brussels, 26/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - In the face of controversy surrounding his decision to invite a small group of EU heads of state to a meeting in Sintra on 12-13 May to discuss the future of Europe (see EUROPE 9413 and 9414), the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, decided on Wednesday evening to drop his initial plans and reduce the number of politicians invited. At that point, Tony Blair, Jan Peter Balkenende and Romano Prodi had already been invited (and had accepted the invitation) along with other politicians. Various sources suggest that the new president of France (either Nicolas Sarkozy or Segolene Royal) would also attend.
'In order to avoid speculation about European divisions,' among countries invited or not to joint he meeting, Jose Manuel Barroso did a u-turn and is now only inviting the current president of the European Council, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the two future presidents (Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa) and the president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pottering. All four have agreed to attend - the other invitations have been withdrawn. On Thursday, a European Commission spokesperson justified the changes on the grounds of the 'unexpected success' of the meeting and the fact that too many politicians wanted to attend the brainstorming, whereas the initial idea had been for a small, informal exchange of views of maximum effectiveness. The spokesperson said that neither the initial idea of a mini-summit nor the decision to revise the invitations had been discussed at the College of Commissioners because they were personal initiatives by the Commission president. (hb)
European Parliament Plenary Session