Barroso's 'homework', which he had prepared over the summer recess (EurActiv 26/08/09), became public hours after he had sent it to the political groups in the European Parliament, with whom he is expected to discuss his candidacy next week.
Speaking in French, Barroso gave a broad outline of his ambitions before the Brussels press and took a few questions. He insisted that his 'Political guidelines for the next Commission,' as the document is entitled, were "exactly the same" as the two-page letter which he sent to EU leaders, who unanimously gave him their blessing for a second term last June.
'Unemployment worries me'
However, this statement could be challenged on the basis that his five bullet points from June did not even contain the word 'unemployment', which appears nine times, including in headlines, in the new document. The Socialist group had issued a strong warning to Barroso to take account of their group's priorities, among which fighting unemployment ranks highly (EurActiv 14/07/09).
"Unemployment worries me […] the social priority is much more important today than it was five years ago," Barroso told journalists.
It cannot be said that Barroso has disregarded employment during his term. An employment summit took place in Prague last May (EurActiv 08/05/09), which was called to assess the impact of the financial and economic crisis and to identify good practice in mitigating its effects on the labour market. However, due to excessive 'summitry' during the Czech EU Presidency (EurActiv 15/04/09), the employment summit went ahead with few EU leaders in attendance, and social partners refused to sign the final document.
Revisting the Lisbon Strategy
Barroso's 'homework' speaks of revising the current Lisbon Strategy to fit the post-2010 period, turning it into a "strategy for an integrated vision of EU 2020".
The EU's ambitious 'Lisbon Strategy', which aims to make Europe become "the world's most dynamic knowledge-based economy by 2010," has in many respects failed, according to many authoritative opinions (EurActiv 08/07/09). Indeed, Barroso's letter to the EU leaders does not even mention the strategy.
This time, Barroso calls for "a more convergent and coordinated approach for the reform of Europe's economies through investment in new sources of growth," and, among other things, "securing sound public finances" for the project, and making "a successful exit" from the crisis. Speaking to the press, he said there were two ways in which Europe could proceed: towards "leadership or marginalisation".
A holistic view
Barroso writes that major existing EU initiatives need to be reformulated and bundled together, as they do not offer a holistic view of what Europe wants to achieve. He proposes that the Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs, the renewed social agenda, the Stability and Growth Pact, competition and state aid policy, the Sustainable Development Strategy, the climate change and energy strategy, the European Research Area, the Hague and now the Stockholm programmes on Justice and home affairs, be all “channelled” to deliver by 2020 the kind of social market economy that he says Europeans are calling for.
Dealing with the crisis
Barroso admits that a challenge for the Commission will be to deal with the excessive deficits in most EU member states, stemming from the economic and financial crisis. He writes that the Commission will have to analyse the right timing for correcting those deficits, “with different deadlines for different member states”, including balance of payment support for some EU countries. Overall, it will take time to bring the deficits below the Maastricht threshold of 3%, he admits.
Barroso appears to make a further step in favour of greater economic policy coordination in the EU, a policy championed by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who had spoken of “a real economic government” of the Eurozone (see EurActiv 22/10/09), an idea rejected by other EU countries.
“Under my leadership, the Commission will use the full range of possibilities in the Treaty to strengthen the convergence of objectives and the coherence of the effects of economic policy, particularly in the euro area,” Barroso writes.
‘Digital Agenda’ and electricity ‘supergrid’
Among the general remarks, a few concrete ideas appear in the Barroso paper. He writes that the new Commission will develop a European Digital Agenda, accompanied by a legislative programme, to promote investment in high-speed internet and avert the digital divide. Also, he speaks of a new European supergrid for electricity and gas, meeting energy needs in smarter ways, and in the context of the climate change goals. He also suggests a “domestic security strategy” to better protect citizens, and a “Youth on the Move” initiative, which could be seen as an “Erasmus for all” programme, allowing all young people to spend a part of their education in other member countries.
Better communications
Barroso pledges to “examine ways and means to intensify the dialogue between the Commission and the media”. But he adds that there should be no illusions for any improvement, unless a partnership with national and regional authorities is put in place. Echoing remarks made some time ago by Luxembourg’s prime minister Jean Claude Juncker (EurActiv 19/06/08), Barrosos says that EU leaders should stop taking personal credit for the positive achievements of Europe, and blaming the EU for everything they don’t like.
Open door to national GMO bans
One particular sentence could be interpreted as a concession to the European Greens who are particularly hostile to Barroso’s reappointment (EurActiv 15/07/09), and who will hold a hearing with the candidate on 9 September. Speaking about fostering diversity, Barroso says he is ready to approve giving member states the freedom to ban GM crops on their territory.
“In an area like GMOs, for example, it should be possible to combine a Community authorisation system, based on science, with freedom for Member States to decide whether or not they wish to cultivate GM crops on their territory,” Barroso wrote.
Enlargement on hold
Having praised enlargement as one of the Union’s greatest successes and as a matter of personal satisfaction, Barroso indicates that he foresees no big projects in the middle term. “Enlargement is not an infinite process,” Barroso writes, adding that the Union will build on the Eastern Partnership and on the Union for the Mediterranean to develop relations with the countries covered by those initiatives, among which several have identified EU accession as their main political goal.
Partnering with MEPs
Another aspect singled out by Barroso from his programme was the establishment of a "special partnership" between the Commission and the Parliament. He explained that he was proposing that a "question hour" should take place regularly between the Commission president and MEPs, in which legislators could ask any question without deciding upon a specific agenda in advance. He also indicated his readiness to attend meetings between the presidents of the European Parliament's political groups, known as the 'Conference of Presidents'.
His main aim in engaging more with the Parliament, he explained, was to work towards the establishment of a genuine European public space, as for the time being he said there were 28 such "territories" – each member country, plus Brussels and Strasbourg.
Barroso did not answer when asked to single out the failures of his first mandate, saying that he preferred to speak about the future. He repeated that he was proud of what the Commission had accomplished during the last five years, especially by consolidating a Union of 27 members.
