Who will be the next European Commission president? Until recently, José Manuel Barroso looked comfortably placed to secure reappointment for a second five-year term at a summit of EU leaders in June. Now the picture is not so clear.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy put the cat among the pigeons on Sunday when he refused to reaffirm the support for Barroso’s candidacy that he had offered during France’s spell last year in the European Union’s rotating presidency. “I like Mr Barroso a lot, I’ve enjoyed working with him, I have confidence in him,” Sarkozy said, his words sounding ever more hollow the longer his sentence stretched on.

Sarkozy suggested it might be best to wait until Ireland has held its second referendum on the EU’s Lisbon treaty - perhaps in October - before choosing the next Commission president. For the pro-Barroso camp, this proposal was out of order. EU leaders had decided at a summit last December that they would select the next Commission chief in June.  If every leader went round disregarding things that have already been agreed, where would the EU be?

It’s doubtful that such arguments cut much ice with Sarkozy. His eyes are fixed on June’s European Parliament elections. His socialist and centrist opponents will try to paint him as being in the same “neo-liberal” economic policy camp as Barroso. It’s quite hilarious, really. Viewed from Brussels, Sarkozy looks nothing like a neo-liberal, but rather like a classic French dirigiste.

Be that as it may, Sarkozy doesn’t want to be identified with an economic philosophy that is seen in France as having brought the world economy to its knees. For French electoral purposes, this philosophy is symbolised by Barroso.

Almost certainly, however, there is another reason for Sarkozy’s doubts about Barroso. The French president thinks the world economic turmoil is an epoch-changing event, one that will bury a certain type of capitalism forever, and one that demands the most creative thinking and vigorous action possible in response. He thinks Barroso and the European Commission in general are missing the point and are haplessly fighting yesterday’s battles.

Perhaps Sarkozy has a point. But if so, which European politician does he think has got the vision, dynamism and courage to do the job? Or would he, in fact, prefer a tame Commission president, who meekly took instructions from a certain visionary, dynamic and courageous leader in the Elysée Palace?

March 3, 2009 11:33am in Barroso, Commission, Economic policy, Sarkozy | Comment