A great day for democracy: the Parliament bites

Date: 28/10/04

Group leaders offer differing perspectives on the withdrawal of the proposed Barroso Commission

Wednesday's events have shown that the Parliament is a strong, democratic institution, says Martin Schulz

This week the European Parliament came of age. We have shown that Europe is not about bureaucracy and unfettered markets but is a genuine political space with a commitment to fundamental rights and values.

José Manuel Barroso's decision to withdraw his proposed Commission was a wise one, prompted by consistent pressure from European public opinion and from the 200-strong Socialist group in the European Parliament. Barroso was courageous enough to realize that a Commission without broad support would have been a weak Commission. With the challenges that the European Union faces over the next five years, we need a Commission that is strong, effective, works as a team and reflects not just the European right but also the European left and centre.

The Socialist group was unanimous in its decision to reject the Commission in the form proposed. Our decision was neither infantile, nor tribal. The group thought long and hard about the possible consequences of its position. We also felt enormous solidarity with our political comrades in the Commission-designate and with many of the other talented and committed commissioners-designate. We were not, however, prepared to accept that the Union's justice and civil liberties work should be led by the man who tabled an amendment to the Charter of Fundamental Rights to remove non-discrimination against lesbians and gay men, who supports transit camps for asylum-seekers and who thinks that women should get back in the kitchen.

There is no crisis, there is opportunity. Barroso must seize the opportunity he has to rebuild a stronger Commission with democratic legitimacy. We must all seize the opportunity to show European citizens that we are serious about building a Union that acts in their interests. When the institutions of the EU were first established, it was on the basis of trade and freedom of movement.

As Europe has developed from a common market, to an Economic Community, to a Union, so we have seen the burgeoning of a sense of European identity and citizenship. Our common European values, our belief in a social market economy have been the rock upon which we have built the European social model. We have now given real voice to a distinct European political model: democracy, the rule of law, equal opportunities, anti-discrimination, the abolition of the death penalty.

When Barroso returns with a Commission, the next stage will be public scrutiny of its work programme for the coming year.

Socialists in the Parliament see the imminent mid-term review of the Lisbon Strategy as a chance to provide a real shot in the arm to the Union's goal "to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion".

We challenge a new Barroso Commission to make the Lisbon Strategy a reality, fearful of a neo-liberal capture of the strategy with Council of Ministers and Commission quietly dumping the other defining features of the strategy and leaving only the concept of competitiveness.

Socialists in the Parliament want to see a strengthening of the social dimension, an integral part of the new constitution, throughout all aspects of the new work programme and clear priorities for the 2006 Social Agenda. Again this is something we intend to monitor closely over the next few months of a new Barroso Commission.

The Commission must also listen to all those voices raised in opposition to the proposed services directive. We will expect to see the Commission advocating respect for the quality of public services in Europe, guaranteed access, price standards and employee protection. The Commission must resist all attempts to use this directive as a Trojan horse to weaken the social acquis. We challenge Barroso to continue now to work with the whole Parliament - right, left and centre - in all tasks.

Barroso has seen that a dialogue with the right in Parliament and the right in Council will undo years of building an equilibrium that serves all our citizens. Our door remains open, Mr Barroso.

• Martin Schulz is a German MEP and leader of the Socialist group in the European Parliament.

Any reshuffling of the Barroso team must involve more than just one commissioner-designate, warns Hans-Gert Pöttering

The European People's Party (EPP-ED) group fully accepts the decision of future Commission President José Manuel Barroso to postpone the European Parliament's vote of confidence on his team. All political groups in the house applauded the decision. Our group has supported Barroso from the beginning and we have full confidence that he will attract widespread support when he comes back to Parliament for the vote. Barroso himself was supported by a large majority of 413 votes in Parliament on 22 July and his decision has shown his strength as a leader.

We now expect from Barroso that he will take into account the results of the hearings as a whole, before presenting his new team again for a vote in Parliament. It would not be acceptable if an individual commissioner-designate were considered in isolation.

The EPP-ED group was ready to vote on the Commission as planned on 27 October in Strasbourg. Other political groups, however, found it difficult to give the new Commission their confidence at that time. Putting off the appointment of the Commission therefore was the right decision from Barroso. He has demonstrated that he understands the importance of the Parliament, which is crucial for future relations between the two institutions. Politics is a process. Everyone must realize that the Parliament enjoys more power and influence now than anyone would have imagined possible a decade ago. But in the end the EU needs strong institutions working together. It is on this basis that Parliament must approve the new Commission under Barroso and ensure it can take office as soon as possible.

For the first time the election of the Commission president by the Parliament is reflecting the results of the European elections. This is an important improvement for more democracy and transparency in the EU. Barroso belongs to the EPP family and won the support of the European Council when the EPP made clear that a liberal Commission president would not be acceptable after the EPP had won the European elections.

The hearings for the 24 commissioners before committees of the Parliament were a test of the political and professional capacities of the candidates. Although MEPs could not reject individual commissioners, they could give a clear indication of which candidates were weak and which strong. Generally, the hearings of this Commission have been positive, but some of them have been problematic.

One of the new commissioners questioned displayed a lack of professional competence in his area of responsibility, another was challenged for his religious beliefs and another for having too much personal involvement in her portfolio area to act with the required neutrality. The hearings have given a warning to all these commissioners. The result of all hearings should now be reconsidered by Barroso before coming back with his team to Parliament. We expect that he will assume political responsibility for particularly sensitive areas, as he has already promised. The political responsibility and accountability to Parliament will thus be much higher in this Commission than in all previous ones. This is another step in intensifying relations between the two institutions.

In addition, President Barroso asked each of the commissioners-designate to sign a commitment that they would step down from their posts if requested to do so by the president. One of the reasons to do this would be a strong request by Parliament to do so (as laid down in an interinstitutional agreement of 1999). This is an important instrument of control of the Commission by the Parliament.

We trust that Mr Barroso will find a solution for his new team in a way that makes Parliament and the Commission strong partners in this legislature. The EPP-ED group will remain a reliable partner for the future Commission, but at the same time we will keep close control of it. We consider this the basis for the sound development of more democracy in the EU.

• Hans-Gert Pöttering is a German Christian Democrat MEP and chairman of the EPP-ED group in the European Parliament.

Group leaders offer differing perspectives on the withdrawal of the proposed Barroso Commission. Comments by Martin Schulz, German Social Democrat MEP and leader of the Socialist group in the European Parliament and Hans-Gert Pöttering, German Christian Democrat MEP and chairman of the EPP-ED group in the European Parliament.