Parliament seeks powers to sack individual commissioners

By Martin Banks

Date: 18/11/04

The European Parliament wants powers to force the resignation of an individual commissioner as the price for approving the revised version of the Barroso Commission.

MEPs were expected to approve the appointment of the Commission in a vote in Strasbourg today (18 November) after the new nominees, Franco Frattini and Andris Piebalgs, received favourable reports from their hearings, as did László Kovács, whose portfolio was switched.

The Commission is expected to be approved by the Council of Ministers tomorrow (19 November) and take up office on Monday.

"My team is now ready and anxious to play its part - so let us now get on with our jobs," said José Manuel Barroso, when he appeared before the Parliament on Wednesday.

The three largest groups said they would back Barroso's revised line-up. But they will also support a resolution calling on Barroso to demand the resignation of any commissioner who loses the confidence of the Parliament.

They want this condition to be enshrined in an agreement between the Commission and Parliament.

Barroso is ready to demand a letter of resignation from each commissioner, so that effectively he has the means to sack a commissioner. What is not yet clear is what measures he will take if a commissioner refuses to provide such a letter.

The fourth largest group, the Greens, said it would vote against the Barroso line-up. Co-leader Monica Frassoni told Barroso: "The changes you have made are minimal and, although it is a better line-up than before, it remains weak and vulnerable."

The three biggest groups are also arguing that in future, the Commission president-elect should be free to choose from three names offered by the member states. A spokesman for the Socialist group said there should be further changes.

"You simply cannot have a situation where there are individual hearings for commissioners-designate yet Parliament only has the power to vote out the whole Commission. Parliament should be able to say 'no' to individual commissioners," he said.

The leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group, Graham Watson, said: "The last few weeks have seen the emergence of what I regard as a healthier relationship between the Commission and the Parliament.

"This is a better team of commissioners than the one originally put forward."

Preview of the European Parliament's vote on the European Commission team proposed by incoming President José Manuel Barroso, 18 November 2004. Article also discusses MEPs' demands that the Parliament should be able to oust individual Commissioners, which it cannot do under current provisions.