The nonsense campaign against Mr Barroso

According to the current rule book of the EU, aka the Nice Treaty, it is for the national leaders to nominate a new president of the commission. Their nominee must then be approved by a simple majority of members voting in the European Parliament. That, pretty much, is that.

Arguably, national leaders are going beyond what they strictly have to do: after unanimously agreeing to offer Mr Barroso a second term, they have instructed the current and future rotating presidency countries (the Czechs and Swedes) to sound out the heads of the big parliamentary groups and ask what would happen if the Barroso re-appointment is put to MEPs in July, when they gather in Strasbourg for their first plenary session since the recent Euro-elections.

Um, where is the outrage? Over to Mr Schultz, the fact that national governments, meeting as the European Council:
“wish to run this past a meeting of the European Parliament leaders at the end of June, followed by a vote in July, rather than to have a full and official consultation of the Parliament, is wholly unacceptable. (...)
"My group objects to the indecent haste with which the Council is trying to rush through Mr. Barroso's appointment and we will certainly vote against him".

But people who dislike Mr Barroso, and there are a lot of them in the Brussels bubble, think it will be harder for him to obtain an absolute majority than a simple majority, so they want to take the decision under Lisbon rules. They argue that it is wrong to use the Nice rules, because Lisbon is coming soon and will affect the number of commissioners who will serve under the new president. So they would either like to delay the decision for months, or “anticipate” its ratification and vote as if Lisbon were in force.
I have no doubt that my children would like to “anticipate” Christmas and have their presents in October. But it ain’t happening in my house, and it is not clear to me why it should happen in the European Parliament.

Read the Economist blog

A timeline for the appointment of a new Commission

– 18-19 June: EU leaders take political decision to nominate Barroso for a second term.
– 23 June: European People's Party (EPP) and Socialist groups appoint leaders.
– 25 June: Meeting of European Parliament political group leaders with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer in Stockholm.
– If discussions in Stockholm indicate Barroso will win backing of most MEPs in a vote on 15 July, EU leaders will take a formal decision to nominate Barroso (possibly by written procedure).
– 30 June: Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe MEPs appoint a new leader.
– 7 July: EPP decision on candidate for president of European Parliament.
– 15 July: Barroso appears before the European Parliament. MEPs vote to approve nomination by a simple majority.
– End September-early October: Ireland holds referendum on Lisbon treaty.
– Once Ireland, Poland and the Czech Republic complete ratification, a decision can be taken by EU leaders to keep the size of the Commission at 27, ie, one per member state. EU leaders nominate list of commissioners.
– 29-30 October: EU summit to decide on nomination of commissioners, president of the European Council, high representative and deputy secretary-general of the Council.
– November: Hearings for designated commissioners.
– November/December: European Parliament plenary vote on European Commission and president (by absolute majority), followed by appointment by EU leaders (by qualified majority).
– January 2010. Entry into force of Lisbon treaty.(European Voice)