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Barroso Commission approved
The European Parliament has approved Jose Manuel Barroso's revamped executive European Commission by a wide margin, ending a three-week political standoff that boosted the assembly's power. The European Union legislature voted by 449 to 149 with 82 abstentions on Thursday to approve the 25-member Commission, which will take office next Monday after the vote is formally confirmed by EU ministers on Friday. The broad majority came after Barroso withdrew his initial line-up on October 29, dropping Italy's controversial Rocco Buttiglione and Latvian Eurosceptic Ingrida Udre and moving Hungary's Laszlo Kovacs to a different portfolio.
His priorities would be "more growth, more employment, the consolidation of the European model which reconciles reform and econ dynamism with solidarity and social cohesion," he said. Most mainstream conservatives, Liberals, Socialists and nationalists voted for the reshuffled team, while the Greens, Communists and Eurosceptical rightists voted against. Parliament earlier overwhelmingly called on Barroso to sack any commissioner who loses the confidence of parliament, or to appear in the house to justify a refusal to do so, seeking to increase its power of supervision over the EU executive. The incoming president said he could broadly accept the non-binding resolution but cautioned lawmakers against going further and asserting a right to dismiss individual commissioners which the EU treaty denies them. Barroso called the tug-of-war over his line-up "a healthy exercise of European democracy" and a "win-win situation". EU analysts said the outcome of the crisis that delayed the entry into office of Barroso's team could strengthen both parliament and the Commission. Barroso now had a better team with a broader majority in parliament than the narrow centre-right backing he would otherwise have received. But parliament had flexed its muscles, showing in the words of its president, Josep Borrell, that it is no longer a rubber stamp or a paper tiger. |
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![European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso smiles during a press briefing at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, November 18, 2004. The European Parliament approved Barroso's revamped executive European Commission by a wide margin on Thursday, ending a three-week political standoff that boosted the assembly's power.[Xinhua/Reuters]](xin_4511011915244761525211.jpg)
