EU Commission President
Cohn-Bendit: "No decision on Barroso before debate in autumn"
At the EU summit in Brussels, EU heads of state and government have announced their support for EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso (1) to be awarded a second mandate.Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Co-President of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament, commented:
"EU heads of state and government have hardened their resolve to install Barroso as Commission President already in July. Although they fell short of formally nominating him, their steamrolling tactics run the risk of a negative vote from the European Parliament next month.
"The Greens insist it would be incoherent to confirm Barroso as President under the Nice Treaty and appoint the other Commissioners in autumn under the terms of Lisbon. It is simply disingenuous to say we need to appoint Barroso now for the sake of stability, when his mandate runs to October.
"The Greens will vehemently oppose any vote on Barroso in July. We will vigorously defend this position at the meeting with the Swedish Presidency on 25 June and in the European Parliament's conference of political group presidents on 9 July. We are confident that Socialists, Liberals and the European Left will share our view.
"Before any vote is held, we call for an in-depth debate on the President, based on his proposed programme. We will not be pacified by Barroso's letter of hastily assembled plans and platitudes. The Commission President's agenda should be discussed in detail by the European Parliament in September in order to allow a vote on his appointment in October."
