EU leaders pressured MEPs to back Barroso

By Martin Banks

Date: 28/10/04

MEPs have admitted to being under "intense pressure" from government leaders to back the Commission team presented by president-elect José Manuel Barroso this week. But their resolve to reject the proposed EU executive nevertheless prompted Barroso to withdraw it.

Socialist members have been the most exposed to such pressure, as they were Barroso's team most vocal critics, together with the Liberals and the Greens.

UK premier Tony Blair called Gary Titley, leader of the 19-strong UK Socialist delegation, on Monday (25 October) to say that voting against the incoming Commission would cause "many difficulties".

Titley said: "He told me both he and the government were concerned about what would happen in the event of a 'No' vote.

He was obviously keen to see that the Barroso team gets through."

But Titley said that he still intended to vote against the new Commission team, had a vote taken place.

UK Socialist MEPs met Peter Mandelson, the UK commissioner-designate for trade, on Tuesday (26 October) at the Parliament in Strasbourg.

One deputy who took part in the meeting said: "He [Mandelson] strongly put the case for voting for the Commission. However, he also told us that he understood our concerns over [Italian commissioner-designate Rocco] Buttiglione and there were no threats or warnings about what might happen if we voted against the Commission."

As it emerged that British government officials had called Labour MEPs to demand they back the Commission presented, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the co-leader of the Greens, said: "Our British colleagues are getting fed up with phone calls from Downing Street."

Jo Leinen was among 21 German Social Democrat deputies who met with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in Berlin last Wednesday (20 October) to discuss the Buttiglione issue.

Leinen said: "He [Schröder] told us that he hoped we, and the rest of the Parliament, would approve the Commission.

"He said that if we did not it would cause problems for the Socialist members of the incoming Commission.

"We in turn told him that Buttiglione had been given the wrong portfolio and Barroso was going in the wrong direction," added Leinen.

Former Commission president Jacques Santer, whose team was forced to resign amid allegations of nepotism, fraud and mismanagement in 1999, said that he was "amazed" at the events surrounding Italy's embattled nominee.

"I think it is wrong to draw comparisons between my Commission and the incoming Barroso one.

"The one I led was at the end of its mandate and had completed its political agenda. The current impasse is very difficult and embarrassing for Barroso. His credibility is on the line," Santer said.

Article reports that MEPs admitted that they had been under 'intense pressure' from government leaders to back the Commission team presented by president-elect José Manuel Barroso on 27 October 2004. But their resolve to reject the proposed EU executive nevertheless prompted Barroso to withdraw it. Socialist members seem to have been the most exposed to such pressure, as they were Barroso's team most vocal critics, together with the Liberals and the Greens.