Europe, Headlines, Human Rights

POLITICS-EU: Parliament Presents a Historic Challenge

Stefania Bianchi

BRUSSELS, Oct 14 2004 (IPS) - The European Parliament and the European Commission are locked in unprecedented confrontation over the next EU executive team.

The European Parliament is the only directly elected European Union (EU) body. The European Commission is the EU executive arm.

The dispute arose after leaders of political parties in the European Parliament failed to agree Wednesday (Oct. 13) on the fate of Italian Rocco Buttiglione, the controversial nominee for the post of justice and civil liberties commissioner.

Many members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have criticised Buttiglione for his outspoken views on women and gay rights.

Buttiglione, a member of the Christian Democrat party and a friend of Pope John Paul II, was rejected by the parliament’s civil liberties committee Monday (Oct. 11) after he told a parliamentary hearing earlier this month that he believed homosexuality was a “sin” and that “marriage was for women to have children and be protected by their husbands.”

Meeting Wednesday to discuss the candidature of the incoming commissioners, MEPs could not agree whether to request changes to the line-up of incoming commissioners under new commission president Jose Manuel Durão Barroso.

Centre-left MEPs demanding Buttiglione’s removal were pitted against centre-right MEPs who insist that the 56-year old devout Catholic is the right man to run EU policies on civil liberties, justice, asylum and immigration.

This is the first time a parliamentary committee has voted against a nominee.

European parliament president Josep Borrell said the Wednesday meeting “did not adopt any common position” on the incoming executive. “Something new has happened, this is the first time that a committee votes explicitly against a specific commissioner,” he told media representatives.

Borrell said the situation which “puts the parliament and the commission on virgin political ground” was unlikely to be resolved immediately. The parliament president told media representatives he will “simply forward” the parliament’s views to the commission chief for assessment.

Instead of demanding that Barroso changes his line-up immediately, party leaders will wait for Thursday (Oct. 21) when Borrell and Barroso meet for a showdown on the institutional standoff.

Barroso, former prime minister of Portugal, said Tuesday (Oct. 12) he had “full faith” in his new team of 24 commissioners, including Buttiglione.

The dispute has forced a premature test of Barroso’s authority and has strained his relations with the parliament just days before he is due to take over the commission next month.

The argument has also upset the Italian government, which has responded angrily to Buttiglione’s rejection by MEPs.

The dispute is not a good start to the five-year term for Barroso’s commission. Barroso was hoping to start his ambitious agenda of promoting economic growth with a strong set of commissioners.

EU law does not allow the European Parliament to accept or reject individual members of the commission – it can only veto an entire team. The parliament will vote Oct. 27 to decide whether to accept the new commission which is due to start its term Nov. 1.

The question now is whether a majority of MEPs will go for the option of sacking the lot or suffer Buttiglione’s views on sex, women and asylum to avoid a crisis in the EU.

Some MEPs are threatening the former.

Socialist parliamentarians sent a harsh warning to Barroso Thursday (Oct. 13) saying it was “unacceptable” for him “to attempt to conduct a dialogue with parliament through the media.”

Socialist group leader Martin Schulz said in a statement that “if Mr Barroso wants to have the confidence of the Socialist group, he has to come up with a different way of treating this house.”

Liberal MEP Chris Davies is urging his colleagues to uphold parliamentary scrutiny of the commission. “We have to insist that the views of the elected parliament take precedence over those of the appointed commission,” he said in a statement Wednesday.

“The ball is in Barroso’s court. We don’t want blood but we do require that our position is respected. If he wants to put his head in the sand and suppose that he can ignore the parliament he should not be surprised if MEPs vote down the entire commission,” he added.

A failure to confirm the new team would create an unprecedented crisis in the EU, leaving the 25-nation bloc without a presiding executive office to run it.