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outubro 26, 2004
EU chief appears headed for defeat in crunch vote: party leaders
The European Union's new commission appeared headed for defeat in a make-or-break parliamentary vote with a majority of EU lawmakers vowing to veto the executive arm.
In what would amount to an unprecedented institutional crisis, a majority of MEPs seemed in place to reject incoming EU chief Jose Manuel Barroso's new team because of his refusal to replace his controversial justice commissioner.
Nearly all the 200 Socialists in the 732-seat European Parliament and at least 50 Liberals were to vote against the Barroso team Wednesday, along with smaller left-wing and eurosceptic groups, party members said.
With some on the centre-right such as British Conservatives likely to rebel against their own party's support for Barroso, the stage appeared set for a stunning defeat for the commission before it even takes office on November 1.
Rumours swirled late Tuesday that the Portuguese commission president-designate was pushing for a postponement of the vote to allow for further consultations at a gathering of EU leaders in Rome on Friday.
But there was no appetite for that after Barroso refused at a series of last-minute encounters with MEPs to drop Rocco Buttiglione over the new justice chief's belief that homosexuality is a "sin" and women should make babies.
Liberal leader Graham Watson, emerging from a tense meeting between his 88 MEPs and Barroso, said the new EU chief had offered nothing new beyond an offer to reassign some of Buttiglione's responsibilities.
"He told us that he had explored with the Council (EU leaders) and with others, other possible solutions but had not found any," Watson told reporters.
"It seems to me that the commission will be defeated tomorrow (Wednesday) unless something happens in the meantime," he said.
"I find it incredible that Mr. Buttiglione has not taken the consequences of this and offered his resignation and his withdrawal," he added.
Critical MEPs say that the conservative Catholic's personal beliefs make him unfit to serve in his new job of guardian of EU civil liberties.
In the worst-case scenario, outgoing commission chief Romano Prodi says he will stay on beyond November 1 as a caretaker until the crisis is resolved. But EU treaties do not spell out how the bloc should proceed in that event.
With EU leaders preparing to convene in Rome to sign the bloc's hard-fought constitution, Barroso appealed to MEPs to show "responsibility" and back him in Wednesday's vote.
"I cannot surrender to a culture of intolerance," he told the parliament earlier Tuesday during an occasionally bad-tempered debate.
"A reshuffle would create more institutional and political problems than it would resolve," Barroso said.
But he angered the Socialists by saying it was strange that in rejecting his new team, they would vote alongside the eurosceptic "extremists who do not want our European project".
"This commission team is worthy of your trust. I appeal above all to your European identity... and ask you to give the commission your confidence," Barroso added.
Socialist leader Martin Schulz rejected Barroso's repeated offer to reassign some of Buttiglione's more sensitive duties, such as anti-discrimination policy, to a four-member team of commissioners.
"He's just putting old wine in new bottles," Schulz told a news conference.
As the fractious day wore on, rumours multiplied that Barroso was seeking to delay the vote to let him persuade Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to drop Buttiglione when they meet in Rome on Friday.
But Schulz rejected that out of hand. "I will not propose to postpone the vote, certainly not," he said.
Barroso had spoken to 23 of the 25 EU leaders last week, eurosceptic leader Jens Peter Bonde told AFP.
"He got the reply that there was no willingness to make any swaps, and no reshuffles, which would be seen as a real killing of Buttiglione," he said.
"Now it's clear. He needs something else. That's the reason the rumours now talk about contacts between Barroso and Berlusconi."
But Berlusconi has given every indication that he plans to back Buttiglione to the hilt, setting the stage for a dramatic denouement Wednesday.
Publicado por esta às outubro 26, 2004 10:09 PM