Barroso: "Het is tijd om aan de slag te gaan" (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Ahead of the likely positive vote by MEPs on Thursday, the incoming Commission President has suggested it is time to move on.

"I believe it is time to shift the focus away from who we are and where we have come

from, to where we want to go", said José Manuel Durao Barroso on Wednesday (17 November).

"My team is ready and anxious to play its part. So let us now get on with our job", he told MEPs as his 24 Commissioners sat around him in the European Parliament.

Putting a positive spin on the events of the last two weeks, which saw him having to withdraw his team at the last minute in the face of opposition from MEPs, Mr Barroso said the Commission had "new strength".

Quid pro quo

For their part, MEPs are keen to bring some concrete advantage to the unprecedented turn of events after a parliament committee voted down the proposed Italian Commissioner.

The ensuing row over Rocco Buttiglione's comments and his subsequent stepping down meant that the parliament had de facto rejected one Commissioner - although EU law does not actually allow for this.

MEPs are now jostling to keep the upper hand.

A joint resolution tabled by the three biggest groups in the parliament calls for the Commission President to "consider seriously" whether to ask a Commissioner to resign if there is a vote of no confidence.

However, a new part to the agreement, which adds considerably to the Parliament's powers, suggests that Mr Barroso should either "require the resignation of that member or justify his refusal to do so before parliament".

This was not required previously.

Mr Barroso has already indicated that he will be accomodating towards Parliament's wishes stating on Wednesday "I hope we can work in a spirit of mutual respect, and I hope we can conclude a renewed framework agreement".

A dollop of power

The Commission President has also pledged to demand the resignation of Commissioners who prove not to be up to scratch.

"I will not hesitate to demand the resignation of any member of the Commission who is manifestly not up to the job or who fails in the duties imposed upon him or her by the Treaty", Mr Barroso told MEPs last month.

"This also holds for cases brought up by the Parliament, which I will actively consider before taking a final decision. All the members of the Commission have undertaken to tender their resignation if I ask for it".

Referring to the inter-institutional agreement and Mr Barroso's pledges, a parliament official remarked that "it is basically the old story that the European Parliament has got a new dollop of power by slightly devious means".