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outubro 29, 2004
Europe woos sceptics on rocky route to ratify the constitution
Fonte: The Times
Europe woos sceptics on rocky route to ratify the constitution
By Anthony Browne and Rory Watson, in Brussels
THE incoming European commission chief said yesterday that he will make several changes to his rejected executive team and hopes to put an end to the crisis within a month.
José Manuel Durão Barroso made the statement as the outgoing European Commission, under Romano Prodi, who was to step down today, made emergency plans to carry on working, extending contracts and preventing people leaving for other jobs, to prevent a power vacuum causing paralysis in the heart of Europe.
Senhor Barroso was humiliatingly forced to withdraw his entire team of 24 commissioners days before they were due to take office because the European Parliament rejected it after the Italian nominee, Rocco Buttiglione, who was to be in charge of civil liberties, said he thought that homosexuality was a sin. Yesterday the Pope interceded in the crisis, coming to the defence of Signor Buttiglione, a conservative Roman C atholic, by calling for a solution based on mutual respect for all points of view.
Senhor Barroso will today consult on the issue with national heads of government signing the constitution in Rome, but he said he would have to carry out changes to the commission team.
Signor Buttiglione faced increasing calls to step down, although he is still formally backed by Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister. Senhor Barroso acknowledged in a radio interview that he could not just simply replace Signor Buttiglione. Asked if he would have to rebuild the entire commission, he said: “No, not from scratch. But of course it can mean there will not be only one change but several changes.”
In another interview, he said the revamp would involve “fewer than eight, ten” of the 25-strong team: “There will not be an extensive reshuffle. It will be very limited, in less than a month, I hope. There will be appropriate changes.”
The incoming British commissioner, Peter Mandelson, is thought to be safe in his job as Trade Commissioner, but the European Parliament has expressed doubt about several other commissioners. Right-wing leaders in the Parliament, who fought hard to defend Signor Buttiglione, are also demanding reciprocal changes to left-wing commissioners.
Jean-Claude Junker, the right-wing Prime Minister of Luxembourg, said: “There are three or four commissioners who did not have the support of the Parliament. We need a somewhat broader change.”
Other nominees potentially at risk after being criticised by the Parliament include Hungary’s Laszlo Kovacs (energy), Latvia’s Ingrida Udre (taxation), the Netherlands’ Neelie Kroes (competition) and Denmark’s Mariann Fischer Boel (agriculture). Since the appointment of the commissioners, two EU governments — Slovenia and Lithuania — have changed, and the new governments may wish to appoint their commissioners. The Latvian Government also fell yesterday, making it more likely that Ms Udre will lose her job.
The outgoing Prodi Commission moved quickly to ensure that it could plug the gap until its successor is appointed. “My understanding is that the whole team of commissioners is ready to stay as long as it takes. All their contracts have been extended until the end of the year,” a spokesman said.
Gunter Verheugen, an outgoing commissioner, said: “There is no power vacuum — but this situation should not last too long.” Political advisers are being hastily recalled. Outgoing Commissioners, many of whom had packed up as they took on new posts, were starting to unpack again yesterday.
Even those who are expecting to serve another five years have been told to stay in their current offices instead of moving into the refurbished premises of their Berlaymont headquarters.
“By next week, everything will be back to normal,” the spokesman added.
Although the new Barroso team should have been in place by Monday, the Commission’s lawyers are confident that they have sufficiently strong legal safeguards to extend the mandate of the present members and allow them to take any sensitive decisions, especially on competition policy, without risking a challenge in the courts. “We believe our legal base is sufficient. In competition policy, we largely apply existing rules and we will continue to do that.
There are various legal deadlines and we will respect them,” an official said.
As it is, the Commission’s agenda is notoriously light for the coming weeks. This had been deliberately planned as Signor Prodi’s team wound down and its successors gradually worked themselves into their new positions.
EUROPE'S CONSTITUTION
creates an EU Foreign Minister
creates a permanent EU president
enshrines EU law as being supreme over national law
gives the EU a legal identity so that it can sign treaties on behalf of countries
sets up an EU common defence policy, compatible with Nato
gives EU more powers in areas such as immigration, energy and health
speeds up decision-making in an enlarged EU
gives countries a legal route to leave the EU for the first time
condenses all previous EU treaties into one simpler, more easily understood document
contains a new Charter of Fundamental Rights, which goes considerably further than the European Convention of Human Rights, already enshrined in UK law
Publicado por esta às outubro 29, 2004 02:11 PM