The Hindu : International : Portuguese Premier is new E.U. President

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 29, 2004

International

International

Portuguese Premier is new E.U. President

By Ian Black and Michael White

ISTANBUL, JUNE 28. Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, the Portuguese Prime Minister, was confirmed last night as the next President of the European Commission, ending a bitter row between Britain and its French and German partners which underscored the tension in the E.U. about the way ahead for an enlarged Union.

Bertie Ahern, the Irish Prime Minister and holder of the Union's rotating presidency, said the Portuguese conservative had been ``overwhelmingly'' approved by the E.U. leaders to replace Romano Prodi.

Mr. Durao Barroso (48), is little known outside his country. He proved acceptable because no one objected to him rather than for any special talent or vision of how to run the Union's demoralised executive and manage its often-troubled relations with the member states.

The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, arriving in Istanbul for the NATO summit, expressed delight with the choice and urged Mr. Barroso to accept. ``I am sure he would do an outstanding job,'' he said.

A replacement for Mr. Prodi, a former Italian Prime Minister, had to be found before the new European Parliament convenes in three weeks time.

Mr. Blair vetoed the Franco-German candidate, the Belgian Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt, whom he considered too much of an old-style federalist; Paris and Berlin retaliated by blocking the Briton, Chris Patten, the E.U. External Relations Commissioner.

Britain's opposition was shared by Italy, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic, reinforcing the New Europe-Old Europe split that embittered relations during the Iraq crisis.

The U.K. Government went out of its way last night to praise Mr. Barroso's record as an economic reformer. ``He is a nation states man, not an ultra-federalist,'' an official said. ``His position is like ours.''

It was feared that his candidacy might founder on his Iraqi stance, since he hosted the meeting of the U.S. President, George W. Bush, Mr. Blair and the then Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar, in the Azores on the eve of last year's invasion. But he is said to have maintained good relations with Mr. Chirac, and he speaks excellent French as well as Spanish and English.

Mr. Barroso has maintained a rigorous approach to Portugal's public finances and stuck to measures to slash a ballooning deficit, including cutting public sector jobs and revising labour laws.

The view in Brussels is that he will champion the smaller members, which often feel threatened by the dominance of France and Germany, especially over their cavalier attitude to euro zone budget discipline. But with the biggest members anxious to cut their budget contributions, he may have trouble maintaining his opposition to capping E.U. spending, of which Portugal is a big beneficiary.The Commission, guardian of the general European interest and initiator of E.U. legislation, has declined under Mr. Prodi's lacklustre five-year leadership.

As its President, Mr. Barroso will need the qualities the profile writers often credit him with: a thick skin and the doggedness acquired during his political journey from Maoist student activist opposing the Salazar dictatorship in the early 1970s to conservative Prime Minister.

He will be appointed at a special summit in Brussels tomorrow and is expected to win the approval of the MEPs in July before beginning work in November. —

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