The new Barroso line-up looks set to be approved by the European Parliament on 18 November, but at a price that goes beyond the changes made since the failed attempt to secure approval in October.
Under the seemingly innocent resolution wording about a "review and update" of the "framework agreement between the Commission and the European Parliament which governs bilateral relations between those two institutions" all the major political groups in the EP are now turning the screws on the already weakened Commission president.
The EP wants to make sure that it will have power as regards the removal of any commissioner that creates major problems and then loses its confidence during the mandate.
In that case "the President of the Commission will consider seriously whether he should request that Member to resign. The President shall either require the resignation of that Member or justify his refusal to do so before Parliament," the draft resolution reads.
This will take the previous interinstitutional agreement one step further, and thus give the EP a muscle similar to that of national parliaments.
