Brussels, 15/05/2009 (Agence Europe). The Barroso Commission had been vocal in its calls for a results-based European Union and is happy to be judged on its own results, but accusations that the Commission failed to tackle the global economic and financial crisis simply ignore the facts and the Commission's powers, says João Vale de Almeida, Head of cabinet of Commission President José Manuel Barroso.
I cannot fail to be surprised at people saying the European Union has not responded well to the crisis, said João Vale de Almeida ruefully on Thursday 14 May 2009 in an interview with this newsletter. He explained that to criticisms that the Commission did not see the crisis coming or the scale of it, he pleaded guilty, but nobody saw the crisis coming. If, however, one looks at how the Commission reacted when the crisis emerged, then one would see that it acted with responsibility and determination. He said that like with the climate issue, the European Union and the European Commission had demonstrated its leadership. How ambitious had it been in this? Should it have approached the financial crisis with the same attitude and the same approach as for climate change? No because these are different areas, answered Vale de Almeida. At the start of the financial crisis, the situation on the markets was so sensitive and the absolute rule is to be prudent, and member states disagreed among themselves quite widely on the issue. (Some people would say that the member states had different interests at play.) Vale de Almeida explained that the Commission had to manage a situation that was highly sensitive on two levels.
Vale de Almeida did not mention limits on the European Commission's power to take independent action, but did concede that the choice of measures depended on whether it would be possible to put the measure into practice. The choice could never be taken in isolation from the general context and the current crisis makes it unlikely that any moves on sensitive issues like eurobonds would be taken as there is considerable disagreement over eurobonds, although some parties see them as a potential united EU response to the crisis. Has the time come to jump in and implement the most recent good idea, asked Vale de Almeida. He wondered how people would have reacted if the Commission had gone ahead and risked it. People would have slammed the Commission for being totally irresponsible, living in cloud cuckoo land and acting without any understanding of how the markets operate and failing to understand the real world of the economy and politics. He said that what the Commission had done was to get member states united, not allowing divisions to break out in their midst and carefully dealing with the markets. Vale de Almeida confirmed the difficulty of the task at hand, explaining that working from one day to the next with the level of consensus that was possible among the member states and huge support from the French Presidency (at the time) and the other member states, the Commission had developed an EU response comprising a body of guidelines and even legislation.
Among recent proposed legislation, the alternative funds rules (see EUROPE 9892) generated huge expectations, heightened by the tight-lipped initial reaction of the Commissioner in charge of the dossier, Charlie McCreevy, about whether special legislation would be introduced. Some point out that Barroso intervened to re-jig the draft legislation. Barroso's chief-of-staff stressed that the outcome was equal to the scale of the job at hand and looked “feasible”. The final draft adopted by the College of Commissioners is balanced, deals with the crux of the matter and has a good chance of surviving the process of getting legislation approved by the EU institutions, he explained. Vale de Almeida said that as far as the Commission is concerned, the draft is faithful to the Larosiere Report and the Commission's G20 pledges. It respects the EU legal system and Europe's international pledges to other countries. It also strikes a balance between the varying positions of the EU commissioners and Vale de Almeida hoped it would be very close to a balanced view at the EU Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. Ahead of a first reading by the EP and Council under the codecision procedure, some Member States have expressed reservations about the long-term idea of a “European passport” for funds in countries outside the EU that meet the criteria set out in the directive.
Does that mean that the Commission did as much as could be expected of it to deal with the crisis in Europe? Vale de Almeida said the Commission had done more than 100 percent. It had not caved in to member states defending their own interests and had played a full role on the international stage in shaping the global response to the crisis. Barroso's chief-of-staff said that he didn't see that the Commission had been absent, or had failed to play its role or was weakened in any way. Before the crisis, he said, the Commission was not a player at the G20 but now it is represented there at all levels and would be continuing full steam ahead at the G20. Vale de Almeida added that one had to have the resources to have ambition and the Commission now had the resources to take an active role in these bodies and would certainly be proactive in its role. Vale de Almeida is the Commission's sherpa at the G8 and the G20 and will continue to work on these issues in preparation for future G8 and G20 summits. (A.B./transl.fl)