Barroso mengt zich in campagne parlementsverkiezingen Portugal (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European Commission President José Manuel Barroso i has given his backing to the Portuguese Social Democrat Party (PSD) ahead of the country's general elections on Sunday.

According to Portuguese radio TSF on Tuesday (15 February), Mr Barroso will give a message of support to his political party which is doing badly in the polls.

"As a Social Democrat, I want on this occasion to show my solidarity and my confidence that the PSD will once more be able to carry out its responsibilities", he is quoted as saying by Reuters.

"It has the conditions once again to guide Portugal on the path of social justice and the path of progress", said Mr Barroso, who governed the party as prime minister before becoming Commission President last year.

A European Commission spokesperson denied that Mr Barroso had breached the 'independence' clause of the treaty with his statements.

"There is nothing in either the treaty or the code of conduct that prevents commissioners from doing this", head commission spokesperson Françoise Le Bail told the EUobserver.

"The intention has never been to cut all commissioners from their political base", she continued.

The code of conduct does not prevent commissioners from being members of a political party saying "Commissioners may be active members of political parties or trade unions, provided that this does not compromise their availability for service in the Commission".

Meanwhile, the treaty says that "members of the commission shall, in the general interest of the community, be completely independent in the performance of their duties".

Mr Barroso's move is also a reversal of an earlier stance in which he said that it would be inappropriate for a Commission president to show support to Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes' centre-right Social Democrat Party.

Prodi's Italian travels

The previous Commission president, Romano Prodi i, raised eyebrows by taking part in a domestic political campaign while still in office.

At the time, concerns were raised about how much time he spent in his native Italy campaigning for his centre-left coalition against his arch-rival, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

But this was towards the end of his five-year term as head of the Commission.

An EU official said that it was "something very different" that Mr Barroso comments on domestic politics just over three months into the job.

However, the official added that Mr Barroso's campaigning spot "is not so different from a dinner with the EPP [the European People's Party of which Mr Barroso is a member]".

Mrs le Bail said that the campaign spot was of "extremely limited time" and as elections are taking place on Sunday it will "probably" be the last time it happens.