MEPs ready to approve Barroso II

Barroso needs backing of a simple majority of MEPs but left-wing MEPs say they will reject line-up.

José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, will next Tuesday (9 February) secure approval from the European Parliament for his team of 26 commissioners. But what remains in the balance is how great the majority will be.

For the Commission to take office, Barroso needs only a simple majority of those MEPs who vote at the plenary session in Strasbourg. Already both the centre-right European People’s Party and the Liberal (ALDE) group have pledged their support for the new Commission line-up. The two groups together account for 349 potential votes in the 736-member Parliament.

Socialist decision

The 14 French members of the 184-strong Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group have announced that they will vote to reject the new Commission because they consider it too weak and unambitious. The rest of the S&D group is likely to back the new Commission, party officials said, but a final decision on a party stance will not be taken until Monday (8 February).

Algara Stenzel, spokeswoman for Germany’s 23 Socialist MEPs said that, while they were “not happy with all” designated commissioners, they were likely to back the Commission if Barroso agreed to stick to the new Parliament-Commission co-operation agreement reached last week (27 January). The outline of the co-operation agreement is also to be put to the vote on the same day.

Helmut Weixler, a spoke-sman for the Greens/European Free Alliance group, said its MEPs would vote to reject Barroso’s team because they feel the quality and the structure of the new Commission is not good enough.

MEPs from the European United Left group will also vote against, because they find Barroso “too neo-liberal”, said group spokesman Gianfranco Battistini.

The MEPs will be voting on the entire line-up and cannot reject individual candidates for commissioner. But they have already secured the withdrawal of Bulgaria’s initial nominee for European commissioner, Rumiana Jeleva.

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She withdrew her candidacy last month after criticism both of an undeclared business interest and of her performance during a parliamentary hearing. The Bulgarian government nominated in her stead Kristalina Georgieva, who has worked at the World Bank since 1993. Her nomination is not expected to meet opposition.

Barroso secured 382 votes of 718 votes cast in September, when the Parliament backed his appointment for a second term as Commission president.

During the plenary session in Strasbourg, the Parliament will also hold debates on the EU-US SWIFT counter-terrorism accord, Ukraine’s presidential elections, Croatia’s and Turkey’s bids to join the EU, and earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.