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novembro 02, 2004
Barroso faces more upheaval
Fonte: The Times
Barroso faces more upheaval
By Rory Watson in Brussels
THE embattled European Commission President-designate is under pressure to put together a new team of colleagues in time for a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels on Thursday.
As José Manuel Durão Barroso, the former Portuguese Prime Minister, struggles to defuse the EU’s worst crisis for more than five years, he may be forced to sacrifice at least three, possibly more, from his original 24-person line-up.
The door for a significant shake-up was opened during the weekend when Rocco Buttiglione, the Italian European Affairs Minister, resigned as a future commissioner after being widely criticised by Euro MPs for his conservative Roman Catholic beliefs on sex and marriage.
In his resignation remarks, Signor Buttiglione depicted himself as a scapegoat and the innocent victim of an “orchestrated campaign”. His views were widely shared in Europe, he said, but had been “distorted by superficial press coverage”. He added that if Romano Prodi, a devout Catholic who is poised to return to Italian politics after five years as Commission President , “had been asked the same questions, he would have given much the same answers”.
However, Michel Barnier, the French Foreign Minister and a former European Commissioner, saw the European Parliament’s refusal to endorse Senhor Barroso’s team last week in a different light. He said yesterday: “This is proof that we’re working with European institutions and within a European process that is becoming more and more democratic.”
After Signor Buttiglione’s departure, two other nominees who came in for criticism from the European Parliament face a fight for their jobs.
Criticism of Laszlo Kovacs centred on the Hungarian’s weak grasp of his future energy portfolio; Ingride Udre, a former Speaker of the Latvian parliament, who is being lined up for the taxation brief, is under attack because she has failed to rebut allegations of illegal funding for her political party. The collapse of the Latvian Government last week has made her position even more precarious.
The most effective solution would be to renew the mandates of Peter Balazs and Sandra Kalniete, the existing Hungarian and Latvian European Commissioners. Both are professional diplomats who have performed well since being appointed in May.
Senhor Barroso is also under pressure to move Neelie Kroes-Smit, of the Netherlands, from the competition policy portfolio. Critics argue that her business connections would lead to conflicts of interest. The Dutch nominee has pledged to stand back from cases where she had been involved with any of the parties, but this has not stifled the criticism. “It is simply not good enough if she can only do a three-day week,” one parliamentary source said.
The Pope, reflecting Vatican disappointment that Signor Buttiglione had resigned because of his religious beliefs, called for Europe to remember its Christian roots. Addressing pilgrims in St Peter’s Square, he said: “To take into account the Christian roots of the European Continent remains fundamental for future developments of the Union.”
Publicado por esta às novembro 2, 2004 01:14 PM