Brussels, 16/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - The EPP (Christian Democrat) and ECR (Conservatives and Eurosceptics) failed in their attempts on Thursday 16 July to get the vote on endorsing José Manuel Barroso on the agenda for the plenary session in Strasbourg in September. The compromise reached by the leaders of the political groups provides for a plenary session debate with the EPP candidate for the presidency of the European Commission on Tuesday 15 September at 3.00pm. However, following a request from ALDE group leader Guy Verhofstadt, the vote on endorsing Mr Barroso, although scheduled for the following day at noon, has been put in brackets, with a footnote suggested by Greens/EFA Co-President Daniel Cohn-Bendit, which states that the final decision will be taken at the Conference of the Presidents on 10 September, immediately after Barroso is heard by the groups, scheduled for Tuesday 8 and Wednesday 9 September. EPP group leader Joseph Daul was not happy that the right wing of the Parliament had been put in a minority position. Following the meeting, he threatened to break the technical agreement reached with the S&D (Socialists and Democrats) Group.
On Wednesday 16 September, the European Parliament is also due to approve the three new commissioners to replace Louis Michel, Danuta Hübner and Dalia Grybauskaïté. Hearings on Belgian Karel De Gucht, Pole Pawel Samecki and Lithuanian Algirdas Semeta will be carried out by the competent committees at their first meetings. (O.J./transl.rt)