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outubro 28, 2004
Barroso sees clutch of changes to EU line-up
[Fonte: The Times]
José Manuel Durão Barroso, the incoming president of the European Commission, is expecting to have to make a clutch of changes to the line-up of his executive if he is to get it past a rebellious European Parliament. Senhor Barroso was forced yesterday to back down from an attempt to bulldoze his line-up past MEPs, who were angered about what were seen as homophobic and illiberal comments by Rocco Buttiglione, a Catholic right-winger who is Italy's nomination for justice commissioner. But MEPs from both sides of the political spectrum said that Signor Buttiglione, a philosophy professor with close ties to the Pope, was not their only target. They also had problems with Laszlo Kovacs, the proposed energy commissioner from Hungary, with Ingrida Udre, a Latvian Green who is due to oversee tax issues, and Mariann Fischer Boel, the Danish nominee for the agriculture post. MEPs were also distinctly unimpressed by the performance at her nomination hearing of Neelie Kroes, a Dutch businesswoman nominated as competition commissioner. MEPs fear that her business links could affect the way that she carries out her role. In an interview today with France's Europe 1 radio, Senhor Barroso declined to say how many changes in his 25-strong team he would make except that it would involve "well less than eight, ten". He hoped to finalise it within a month. Until then the current Commission, including Neil Kinnock and Chris Patten, remain in office. The negotiations were expected to start formally tonight, when Senhor Barroso meets top Dutch ministers in Rome ahead of Friday's scheduled signing of the European Constitution. The Dutch currently hold the rotating presidency of the European Council of ministers. So far, Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, has refused to publicly cut loose Signor Buttiglione, who angered MEPs by telling them that he considered homosexuality to be a sin. But Signor Berlusconi is thought to be keen to find a way out of the crisis without leaving Italy with a lame duck commissioner.
Publicado por esta às outubro 28, 2004 04:26 PM