It was one of the worst kept secrets in Brussels, and now it’s out in the open. On the sidelines of the European Union’s summit in Brussels, centre-right EU political leaders have informally nominated José Manuel Barroso of Portugal to stay in office as European Commission president for a second five-year term.
With the support of President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and German chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as that of Europe’s consummate political fixer, Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg, it was never likely that Barroso would face much opposition on the centre-right.
True, his reappointment is not a foregone conclusion. Many centre-left politicians across Europe are not keen on Barroso. However, his free trade views are music to the ears of Gordon Brown, the UK’s Labour premier. And because the centre-right parties seem likely to remain the largest political group in the European Parliament after next June’s elections, Barroso is in pole position to hang on to the job he likes so much.
Two trends, seemingly contradictory, stand out in Barroso’s presidency so far. On the one hand, the Commission is less powerful and less of a pace-setter, compared to the EU’s national governments, than it was, say, in the 1985-95 era of Jacques Delors. On the other, Barroso himself dominates his fellow commissioners, and sets the tone for the whole Commission, in a way that only Delors has ever really matched.
Truth to tell, the Commission needs forceful leadership now that it has 27 members, one for each EU country. There is a real risk of fragmentation, or drift, in such a large group. In any case, some commissioners don’t exactly appear to be snowed under with work.
But the EU also needs a strong Commission that can stand up to national governments and powerful business interests when necessary. The Commission must robustly defend the integrity of the EU’s internal market and uphold the principles of fair competition.
This point has been obscured to some extent during the recent tumultous weeks of the global financial crisis. But it may turn out to be the key issue for a second Barroso term.
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