EV50 2006: Making outsiders insiders

The voting for last year’s EV50 nominees swung behind the champions of economic reform, transparency, innovation, cautious enlargement and reform of the European Parliament.

The European of the Year 2006, José Manuel Barroso, saw the award as the final consecration of his status as a Brussels insider. Although he was appointed president of the European Commission in June 2004, Barroso said it was the European Voice award that, two-and-a-half years later, put to rest his status as a Brussels outsider.

"When I came to Brussels," said the former Portuguese prime minister, "I know that there were a lot of people in Brussels who saw me as an outsider - from the periphery of Europe, from a small country which was not a founder of the Community. I was received as an outsider."

The press in Portugal gave much coverage to Barroso’s achievement at EV50, which they described as "Europe’s Oscars", and agreed that the award was recognition that their former prime minister, who was received with some scepticism in Brussels, had been accepted as a ‘native’.

Barroso, who was nominated in the category Statesman of the Year, for "concentrating the work of his Commission on delivering benefits to citizens", promised to focus the work of his team on making "Europe into one, so that there are no longer any insiders and outsiders".

The winner of the MEP of the Year category was also someone who had been seen in 2004 as an outsider. When Josep Borrell became president of the European Parliament he had only just been elected to the institution. His fresh perspective on the Parliament seems to have helped. Borrell was rewarded by European Voice readers for his attempt to reform the institution to create a more lively and political assembly.

Another outsider turned insider was Andrej Bajuk, Slovenia’s finance minister, who was crowned Achiever of the Year, for ensuring that his country was the first of the new member states to be allowed to join the eurozone in January 2007.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, was crowned Stateswoman of the Year for brokering an agreement on the EU budget at the December 2005 European Council. Merkel has since followed up that debut success by pulling the EU out of the crisis sparked by the rejection of the EU constitution. The EV50 panel has nominated her again this year for skilfully steering the EU towards a deal on a new reform treaty.

Last year’s winners

• Commissioner of the Year: Olli Rehn

• MEP of the Year: Josep Borrell

• Stateswoman of the Year: Angela Merkel

• Diplomat of the Year: Jean-Marc de la Sablière

• Campaigner of the Year: Colin Firth

• Business Leader of the Year: Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis

• Journalist of the Year: Nils Mulvad

• Achiever of the Year: Andrej Bajuk

• Non-EU citizen of the Year: Tariq Ramadan

• European of the Year: José Manuel Barroso

The voting for last year’s EV50 nominees swung behind the champions of economic reform, transparency, innovation, cautious enlargement and reform of the European Parliament.