Only a pause” “” “

A postponement to avoid defeat in the vote of the European Parliament: the President-designate of the Commission, JOSÉ MANUEL DURAO BARROSO , has chosen an arduous, but institutionally unexceptionable road. After weeks of controversy following the auditions of the Commissioners nominated by the national governments, the Portuguese statesman appeared before the European Parliament on Wednesday 27 October, and asked for more time to propose a team with “the necessary and sufficient” changes to obtain the Assembly’s vote of confidence. INSTITUTIONAL IMPASSE, BUT “THE EU IS A SOLID CONSTRUCTION”. “If the vote were to be held today – said Barroso in the debating chamber of the EP in Strasbourg –, the result would have been negative for the institutions of the Union and for the entire European project. For this reason I have decided not to submit the Executive to the vote. I intend to begin a wide-ranging round of consultations with the political groups and with the Presidency of the European Council, with the aim of obtaining the wider support of Parliament”. Amid the applause of the chamber and some heckling, the future head of the Executive added: “The last few days have demonstrated that the EU is a solid construction and that the Parliament plays a vital role for the good government of Europe. I think that in the next few weeks it will be possible to achieve a positive result, and that a loyal spirit of cooperation will prevail”. At the end of the session Barroso himself explained he could not yet establish what changes he will make and when. The impasse created in the “Community machine” will undoubtedly be discussed in Rome today, Friday 29 October, when the heads of state and of government of the Twenty-Five meet together for the signing of the Constitutional Treaty of the Union. The same question could also be placed on the agenda of the European Council scheduled to be held in Brussels on 4-5 November. THE NEXT MOVES OF THE PORTUGUESE LEADER. Barroso ought in the short term to decide on the “reshuffle” of his team that the European Parliament seems to claim as the precondition for giving it a vote of confidence. It will then be necessary to proceed to the auditions of any new Commissioners-designate, to reach – in the most optimistic scenario – a vote in the EP in its session of 15-18 November. Until that time the executive headed by Romano Prodi will remain in office. Naturally the situation created in Strasbourg has aroused a variety of reactions. Socialists, liberals, greens and the far left, who had asked the President-designate to change the composition of his Commission at least in part or to resign the portfolios, were exultant, declaring that the Parliament “has been confirmed as the central institution in the structure of Europe and the one that represents the will of citizens”. Exponents of the people’s party group and the right wing, who had supported Barroso to the last, took a very different view. No less than six Commissioners-designate had incurred the censure of MEPs: objections of technical competence or conflicts of interest had been raised for six of them. In the case of the Italian Rocco Buttiglione, the doubts raised concerned the opinions he had expressed on homosexuality and the condition of women in modern society. Buttiglione had explained that he knew how to distinguish between the personal opinions he had reaffirmed during the audition and the institutional role that awaited him. But this was not enough for the members of the Liberty and Justice committee, who expressed a negative view of him. PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY, ECONOMIC PROGRAMMES. The events in Strasbourg risk casting a shadow over the importance of the ceremony for the signing of the Constitution and will not fail to create problems in relations between the EU institutions. On the other hand, at least one positive factor should be pointed out – as some MEPs have already done: a more decided “parliamentary democracy” seems to be emerging in the EU, albeit amid a thousand difficulties. It should also be emphasized that the failure to vote on the new Executive has distracted attention from the programme that Barroso had presented in the same session of the EP. Warmly appreciated in various parts, the programme presented by Barroso had tackled the main social and economic problems of Europe with great determination. “The Union – he said – must place growth at the centre of its action; Europe has a need for greater growth, employment, business enterprise, innovation and research”. That’s why “reforms need to be implemented to ensure the economic dynamism of the Twenty-Five. We need to aim at education and training, technological know-how and development, if Europe is to be a real knowledge-based economy, able to withstand ever fiercer international competition”. But such reforms, explained the President-designate, “must be placed in the context of a strategy of sustainable development that may face the challenge of climate change and give appropriate responses to the challenges in the fields of energy, transport and protection of the environment”.