Tag: Commission presidency

With decades of EU institutional reform and eastern enlargement culminating with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Union is now "as close to the final EU institutional balance as we are likely to get in our lifetimes" and leaders can focus on pressing issues like climate change, energy and food security instead, Tom Spencer, executive director of the European Centre for Public Affairs, told EurActiv in an interview. 

Reappointed President José Manuel Barroso has a unique opportunity to "recuperate the role" of the European Commission and "really influence policymaking" in the coming years, Antonio Missiroli, director at Brussels think-tank the European Policy Centre (EPC), told EurActiv in an interview.

The European Parliament today (16 September) gave José Manuel Barroso legitimacy to steer the European Commission for a second five-year term not only under the terms of the current Nice Treaty, but also under the tougher criteria of the Lisbon Treaty, which is still awaiting ratification in Ireland, the Czech Republic and Poland.

After trying for five years to find the right approach to communicating Europe, European Commission Vice-President Margot Wallström has come to the conclusion that the only way forward is to give the new commissioner control of citizenship legislation and the accompanying programmes and budget, she told EurActiv in an interview.

Signalling a nerve-wracking wait for European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, leaders of the European Parliament's political groups have agreed to delay until 10 September their decision on when to stage a vote on the Portuguese's bid for a second term at the EU executive's helm.

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso seems well-placed to win a second term after the leader of Germany's Social Democrats, Franz Müntefering, said yesterday (27 May) that there was little point in the European Socialists naming their own alternative candidate in an attempt to halt the incumbent's re-appointment.

If the Socialists gain more influence following the June European elections, there will be more state aid for economic restructuring cases, such as the Poland's Gdańsk shipyards, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, president of the Party of European Socialists, told EurActiv in an exclusive interview today.

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso came a step closer to securing a second term in office after being informally endorsed by conservative EU government leaders at a meeting prior to the EU summit yesterday (15 October), according to a German government official.