EU Commission President
Greens to launch Strasbourg call to postpone Barroso vote
Next week's European Parliament plenary agenda in Strasbourg (16 September) will feature a vote on José Manuel Barroso's nomination for a second term as Commission President. This is the result of a majority decision in the European Parliament's Conference of Presidents this morning, where EPP-ED, ALDE (Liberals) and ECR (Conservatives) groups voted in favour and Greens/EFA, Socialists and the European Left voted against.
Calling for a further postponement of this vote, Greens/EFA group Co-presidents Rebecca Harms and Daniel Cohn-Bendit commented:
"We regret that a liberal-conservative majority has followed the will of EU governments and Barroso himself to steamroll the nomination process for the President of the next EU Commission. The Greens' position remains that the vote on the next Commission President should take place after the Irish referendum on Lisbon. Only then we will know under which Treaty the new Commission will be nominated.
The Greens deplore the volte-face by Liberals' leader Guy Verhofstadt, who has transformed in a few short months from fierce critic to willing accomplice in Barroso's appointment. The Greens opposed Verhofstadt's PR stunt calling for a repeat of the Barroso vote (in the event that Lisbon is ratified) because there is a legal obligation to have the Commission President and other Commissioners nominated under the same Treaty.
On Monday, Greens will call for a vote on the plenary agenda and appeal to MEPs to postpone the vote on Barroso." (1)
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(1) At 17.00 in the European Parliament Strasbourg plenary session
