Charlemagne. Meet the President

A Maoist-turned-Eurocrat who learned his democratic lessons the hard way

GEORGE BUSH will meet many dignitaries during his three days in Brussels next week. These will include the secretary-general of NATO, the king of Belgium and heads of government from 25 European Union countries. Also waiting to receive him are the secretary-general of the EU's Council of Ministers, the president of the European Council (that is, the leader of the country that holds the Union's rotating chair) and the president of the European Commission.

Even the most dedicated student of European politics might be forgiven for wondering who among these jostling worthies actually speaks for the European Union. There is, in fact, no European counterpart to the American president - and probably there never will be. But if Mr Bush is looking for a partner who embodies and can speak for the European Union, that person is traditionally the president of the commission.

Fortunately for Mr Bush, José Manuel Duro Barroso, who took over as head of the commission in November, is an old friend. In his previous job as prime minister of Portugal, he hosted the Azores summit of 2003, in which Mr Bush, Tony Blair and José María Aznar of Spain prepared the ground for the invasion of Iraq. That decision endeared him to the White House, but still causes lingering distrust in parts of Europe; France and Germany would have preferred somebody else in the job.

Seated in his office in Brussels's Berlaymont building, the new commission president admits, with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, that he has “been accused of many things - of being an ultra-liberal, a counter-revolutionary” but adds: “I can assure you that none of it is true.” Such accusations are certainly ironic, given his history as a student Maoist in Portugal in the 1970s. That period of Mr Barroso's life is often written off as youthful indiscretion of little relevance to understanding the 48-year-old, multilingual technocrat of today. But, in fact, Mr Barroso's experience of living through Portugal's transition from dictatorship to democracy is fundamental to understanding his politics. Asked how he would explain his Maoist phase to an American visitor, Mr Barroso's initial reaction is to laugh and to say it would be impossible to understand for anybody who had not seen the Portuguese revolution.

But then he leaps up and returns from the neighbouring office with a framed photograph of the funeral of Antonio Salazar, the Portuguese dictator who died in 1970. Standing next to a candle-lit coffin is a dwarf brought over from the Portuguese colony of Angola and a giant from the colony of Mozambique. “Look at this,” he exclaims, “it was macabre, grotesque - but that was my country.” As a teenager, the young Barroso gradually realised that the official line - that Portugal was a great, respected state because of its empire - was belied by the reality of a poor, isolated and backward country on the periphery of Europe. Books and works of art that were freely available elsewhere were banned. “It wasn't just a question of not being able to read Marx,” he exclaims indignantly, “I wasn't allowed to buy that record by Jane Birkin, 'Je t'aime...moi non plus'.”

Europe's civilising mission

At Lisbon University, he recalls, the only real opposition to colonialism and dictatorship came from communists of various schools. His Maoist period was a brief one. But the memory of those days has shaped him. Like many an Iberian politician of his generation, Mr Barroso associates his country's passage into the European Union with the end of isolation and the advent of prosperity and democracy. That has made him a passionate believer in the EU's power to spread peace and stability. But his personal experience of what it means to live under a dictatorship also makes him much less cynical than some other Europeans about President Bush's rhetoric on the subject of freedom. “Of course we can unite with the Americans in a fight for freedom,” he says: “freedom is a European concept.”

But while Mr Barroso has his romantic side, his early choices as commission president have been pragmatic. Previous occupants of the office - in particular the most famous recent incumbent, Jacques Delors of France - made their mark by expanding the powers of the Union, unleashing a torrent of legislation, and proclaiming their belief in the political unity of Europe and the glories of a unique European social model. Mr Barroso, by contrast, has focused on “jobs and growth”. He points out that all opinion surveys suggest these are the main concerns of EU citizens. Besides, the Union has only just expanded to include ten new members and has agreed an ambitious new constitution, which awaits ratification. “Some accuse me of lack of ambition for the EU,” says Mr Barroso, “but what could be more ambitious than trying to get this new Union of 25 countries actually to work and to produce greater prosperity?”

In a Union where several of the largest economies have unemployment rates of around 10%, it is indeed hard to argue with Mr Barroso's priorities. A more telling criticism is that the new commission president is setting himself up for disappointment by focusing on areas where he has few powers. The key structural economic reforms that need to be made in the European Union - in particular reforms to welfare states, labour laws and pensions systems - remain largely in the power of the individual members. Mr Barroso acknowledges that he has little authority to force through change, but hopes that the commission “can act as a catalyst”. But even in those areas where the Barroso commission can make a direct contribution to higher European growth, the early signs are not promising. An ambitious plan to liberalise trade in services across Europe has had to be pulled back for further “consultation”, after running into opposition in France and Germany. Persuading a reluctant Union really to pursue economic reform will be a tough slog. Fortunately, Mr Barroso knows the meaning of a long march.

Profile looks at European Commission President, José Manuel Barroso.

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