Leaders buy time before deciding on EU top jobs[fr][de] 

Speaking at the Elysée with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel alongside him, Sarkozy made it plain that their support for Barroso is not unconditional. 

"Madame Merkel and I support Barroso," he said. "But we call on him before a second term to clarify, and in a way make formal his position" and his programme, the French president stressed. 

As EU leaders are expected to discuss nominating the next Commission president at their Brussels summit on 18-19 June, the Elysée statements appear to confirm that France and Germany are in fact seeking to delay the formal appointment of Barroso until agreement is reached with the newly-elected Parliament.

"The chancellor and I would like to see a political decision taken at the next European Council [on 18-19 June] so that there can be real consultations between the European Council and the European Parliament, without an official legal decision being put down in writing," he said.

"If the European Parliament agrees, we could ratify the decision in July," said Sarkozy.

The newly-elected Parliament is holding a secret ballot vote during its opening plenary session in July to approve or reject the proposed new Commission president. But the outcome is uncertain as the new Parliament is more fragmented than the previous one, and opposition leaders in the Greens, Liberal and Socialist camp are mounting a campaign to oust Barroso (EurActiv 10/06/09).

Other top EU jobs back in the picture

After the Parliament vote, other top EU jobs to be created under the draft Lisbon Treaty could then come back into the picture and be allocated as a 'package deal' (EurActiv 10/06/09).

And as public opinion polls in Ireland seem reassuring, the new high-profile positions foreseen in the Lisbon Treaty have again become topical.

The treaty introduces two new EU top jobs: a high-profile president who will chair EU summit meetings for a two-and-a-half year term, and a revamped foreign policy chief. 

In a widely-noted interview with Spanish daily El País, Jean-Marie Colombani, former editor of Le Monde, maintains that Sarkozy is pushing for former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe González to become the first EU president once the Lisbon Treaty is ratified.

According to Colombani, Sarkozy has dropped his support for former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, among other reasons for "not having done anything" in his current capacity as special representative of the Middle East Quartet. Colombani claimed that Sarkozy "does not care" that González is a socialist, as he sees him first as a "man of ideas about Europe". 

A package deal, including a top job for a socialist, may sweeten the pill of another five years of Barroso, representatives of the Party of European Socialists (PES) conceded, speaking to EurActiv on condition of anonymity, as they did not want to comment on unconfirmed news. But officially, the Socialists continue to oppose Barroso, as PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen wrote on his blog yesterday. 

Also, the Greens and some Liberals want the decision to nominate the next commission president to be postponed until the autumn. 

PES with new name?

In the meantime, it appears that the PES is about to change its name. 

"There are the conditions to establish a new group in the European Parliament, which will be called the 'Alliance of Socialists and Democrats' (ASDE), and which will bring together the European Socialists and the Italian Democrats," said Dario Franceschini, leader of the Italian PD, after a meeting on Thursday in the European Parliament with PES group leader Martin Schulz. 

"It is an important step ahead. We are glad the PES agreed to follow this route," Franceschini added, making clear that one of the shared views of the new group is opposition to the re-election of Barroso as president of the European Commission.