Commission struggles with services directive

The Commission's concession to review its services proposal was viewed by some commentators as a serious blow to the 'Lisbon' drive of the Barroso team. French newspaper Le Figaro even accused President Barroso of being 'a prisoner of the Franco-German couple'. 

The UK's Financial Times made the link between the Commission's retreat and the referenda on the Constitution: "Referendums on the constitution are important. But winning them is up to national politicians, and the Barroso Commission should not try to make up for the deficiencies in national leadership by sacrificing its own policies." The FT further accused Mr Barroso of flunking "the first test of his proclaimed free market credentials".

Le Monde makes the same analysis. Out of fear for a French 'non' on the referendum, the Barroso Commission "entend éviter toute initiative susceptible de compromettre la victoire du 'oui'", writes the French newspaper.

Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung  thinks that there is a strategy battle going on in the European Commission. According to the FAZ, there are serious tensions between German industry and competitiveness commissioner Verheugen and commissioner McCreevy. The internal market commissioner yesterday criticised some of his colleagues saying that some of them "like to speak out of both sides of their mouth on this issue".