Jose Manuel Durao Barroso
Posted on 06/27/2004 10:28:49 PM PDT by MadIvan
Britain and the other "new Europe" states have scored a victory over the old Franco-German alliance with the likely appointment of Portugal's prime minister as the head of the European Commission.
Paris and Berlin indicated yesterday that they were willing to lift their veto of Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, a free-market reformer with close ties to the United States, ending weeks of rancorous disputes.
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Jose Manuel Durao Barroso |
"I am very pleased to confirm that there is overwhelming support," he said. "I am hopeful that he can respond positively."
Romano Prodi, the current president, does not step down until the beginning of November. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said yesterday that Mr Durao Barroso was an excellent choice. "There would be a smile on my face if he was the candidate to emerge," he added.
The choice of Mr Durao Barroso rather than the other more federalist candidates is a major coup for Tony Blair, marking a double victory after protecting his key "red lines" in the new constitution.
One British minister said Mr Durao Barroso was ideally suited to the task. "He's a very good choice," he added. "We don't want the sort of visionary waffle and in your face antics we've had from Prodi. We want somebody who gets on quietly with the job."
Gerhard Schroder, the German Chancellor, said Berlin had "no intention" of blocking the compromise choice. "On the contrary, he can count on Germany's support."
But it was still unclear last night if Mr Durao Barroso's own centre-Right party - the Social Democrats - would allow him to take up the post.
His departure could trigger a political crisis in Lisbon, leading to the downfall of the government in snap elections.
Mr Durao Barroso, a student Maoist in the days of the Salazar dictatorship, entered politics for the Communist Party before shifting ever further to the Right - the Portuguese equivalent of evolving from the Tribune Group to New Labour.
A low-key multilingual lawyer, he studied in Geneva and taught politics at Washington's Georgetown University.
France and Germany had tried to impose Belgium's Guy Verhofstadt, an ultra-federalist who hosted the infamous "chocolate summit" of anti-American states at the height of the Iraq war.
The Franco-German move was blocked by the pro-war trio of Britain, Italy and Poland, quietly backed by a group of states irked by the Franco-German attempt to ram through a fait accompli.
EU diplomats expressed surprise that the pair were now willing to accept Mr Durao Barroso, who hosted the Azores "war council" with American, British and Spanish leaders before the Iraq invasion.
The photo of the four pro-war leaders together infuriated Paris at the time since it undermined efforts to portray the war a purely Anglo-Saxon adventure.
Britain has emerged as the de facto leader of a large bloc of EU states that does not share the Franco-German outlook and tends to coalesce in an informal alliance of its own.
Frits Bolkestein, Holland's European commissioner, said Britain had refound its historic role as the balancing power in Europe.
The new commission head has to start work almost immediately on the delicate task of allocating jobs to the 25 commissioners.
Downing Street is expected to pick Peter Mandelson for Britain's slot in Brussels and is pushing for a job in trade or competition.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
Good, Prime Minister Blair, please keep france, germany and russia(all not capitolised on purpose) in line please, thanks, D2
How utterly delicious :-)
Thank you!
This was always the key to what enabled Europe to leap ahead technologically from the 16th Century onward. For almost 500 years Britain played the key role in preventing a superpower from arising in Europe and going on to dominate the continent. With no superpower in control, and with the knowledge that Britain would do everything possible to prevent such a power from arising, the European states were forced to compete against each other both in the economic and technology realms. This competition made all of the European states stronger until they eventually made a collective quantum leap ahead in comparison to other centers of civilizations in Asia and the Middle East. With Britain again playing the role of superpower spoiler, Europe may actually be able to remain a center of economic and technological progress.
A little good news today...
Much better. Now we see clearly that all of Europe does not follow the French and German lead, as they want us to believe. Thank Heaven.
This, Bertie Ahern, the Irish leader and current holder of the European Union presidency, then this: Romano Prodi, the current president, does not step down until the beginning of November. Which is it? I thought Ahern was president right now, so what is Prodi president of?
Thanks if you can clear this up a bit.
The other Presidency is the Presidency of the European Commission, which is the bureaucracy that binds the EU together. So one Presidency is more symbolic, but has practical aspects, the other is organisational.
Regards, Ivan
Thanks Ivan, that cleared it up, but at the same time didn't (make any sense, what I just aaid there?). I can only imagine what it's like for you guys across the pond trying to decipher this stuff as you must. Screw it, Britain shouldn't be a part of this EU farce. She is too proud a country with too much sense for the rest of the Euroweenies.
Regards, Ivan
Mark one up for Britannia.
Isn't this Portugese guy, more centrist than 'conservative'?
Glad the French didn't get their way though. For a minute there i thought Bertie would have to take the job himself. (In fairness to him, he didn't to too bad a job during the Presidency)
He's pro-American, certainly pro-reform and free markets. He is a huge improvement on the left wing Romano Prodi, and certainly not someone the French or Germans wanted given his pro-American bias.
I actually prefer him to Chris Patten, who is a closet Francophile and traitor.
Regards, Ivan
I know very little about Patten other than his involvement as Chairman of Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland. Oh and his soiree in Hong Kong.
I often wondered how being Governor of Hong Kong made him suitable to sort out the police force in NI!
Apparently in 1972, he worked as a political advisor in the Home Office, and from 1983 to 1985, he was Parliamentary Under-secretary for the Northern Ireland Office. Not overwhelming qualifications, mind you, but not terrible either.
Regards, Ivan
Well, he didn't do a sparkling job. By all accounts the P.S.N.I. is still blighted with difficulties.
like much of N.I. unfortunately. :-(
I never said he wasn't full of rubbish. As I said, he's a closet Francophile and traitor. He's been quoted as saying he feels very comfortable with the federalist Christian Democrat parties on the Continent.
Regards, Ivan
Wonderful news, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso was one of the heads of state that attended the conference just prior to the war in Iraq.
He feels wary of the Christian Democrats?
(Ha! Could be a throwback from having to deal with Paisley! *L* - kidding).
You'd think he'd be more worried at the rising tide of Muslims in Paris, eh? :-)
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