Swedish EU Presidency - Commission President

Reacting to today's U-turn announcement by Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt that no decision will be made in July on Barroso's renomination as EU Commission President, Greens/EFA Co-Presidents Rebecca Harms and Daniel Cohn-Bendit commented:

"The Swedish EU Presidency has made a wise decision in not insisting on holding a vote in July on Barroso's second term. For others it has been clear for many weeks, but now it finally dawns on the Council that to bulldoze a vote through the European Parliament would make an inauspicious start for Fredrik Reinfeldt and the Swedish Presidency. In any case, the Swedish EU Presidency should not link its success or failure to the success of failure of José Barroso.

Barroso must now realise that he should stop trying to do deals with individual parliamentary group leaders. His strategy to stitch up a backroom deal now lies in tatters. We consider it utterly astonishing that Barroso has even been chasing support from Eurosceptics and have to wonder what price he is willing to pay for his second mandate.

Greens believe that it is now out of the question to return Barroso as Commission President. We do not trust him to wholeheartedly implement the policies that Europe urgently needs, namely a Green New Deal that would combine economic stimulus with the fight against climate change."

***ENDS***

Note to editors 

Visit the Greens/EFA campaign - "Stop Barroso - Europe deserves better"