Brussels, 06/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - The exchange of views that took place in Stockholm on Monday 6 July among European Parliamentary group leaders and Swedish Prime Minister and current President of the European Council Fredrik Reinfeldt confirmed what the Swedish Presidency had announced on Friday (see EUROPE 9935), that is, that the formal vote on the candidacy of José Manuel Barroso will not take place before the autumn. “At the moment, there is no majority in the European Parliament for holding a vote in July, but I hope that it will take place in September,” EP President Hans-Gert Pöttering told press following the meeting with Reinfeldt on Monday evening. He said that the “majority” of group leaders share his opinion on a September vote. Pöttering said that the outgoing Parliament's viewpoint had been to formally designate the new Commission president at the July plenary session, “but, after the European elections, some political groups changed their opinion”, wanting more time for discussions with Barroso on his political programme. Pöttering regrets this decision (he, personally, would have preferred a July vote), but he accepts it since, he said, “political groups have a right to change their opinions”. He is sure that Barroso will command the support of the “great majority” of MEPs in the vote this autumn, “if he gives the right answers and if he provides the right ideas” to those who, in the new Parliament, are still doubtful. Pöttering hopes that the Conference of the Presidents of the political groups in the EP, which meets on Thursday 9 July, will back a September vote. Between now and then, the groups will have ample time for the consultation they wish with the candidate Barroso.
In the meantime, Barroso says he is “perfectly relaxed” about his candidacy. “I have the unanimous support of heads of state and government and I am sure that I will have a clear majority in the European Parliament,” he told press in Brussels on Monday 6 July. He said that it was for the Parliament to determine the timetable. “When it's ready, I'll be ready,” he said. When asked about the chances of the Socialists, Greens and Liberals in the European Parliament using the delay in the vote (from July until the autumn) to bring forward an alternative candidate, Barroso, replied: “I am the only candidate”. Any other hypotheses were “speculation with no credibility”. (H.B./transl.rt)