New ”fiscal compact” for eurozone (2 x updated)

How can anyone defend (or even call for more) intergovernmental solutions to common problems at the European level, or even tolerate the EU our leaders and their predecessors have built?

With democratic government and sufficient powers the European Union, the eurozone and we would not be in this impotent mess.

Well, upon leaving Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB) called it a very good outcome for the euro area countries, although the deal has to be fleshed out in the coming days.

The European Council dinner finally broke up and after 5 o'clock Friday morning (local time) the announced press conference of European Council and Euro Summit president Herman Van Rompuy and Commission president José Manuel Barroso took place.

Update 9 December 2011: Herman Van Rompuy's written statement has now been posted, and it offers more detail.

Update 2, 9 December 2011: Statement by the euro area heads of state or government (9 December 2011; 7 pages). This is the paper to read, both for actions and blank spaces.

A ”new fiscal compact” is the novel Sesame between 17 eurozone members and six others, an intergovernmental agreement between 23 member states (perhaps more).

Self-imposed structural weaknesses force the leaders to continue on the road of intergovernmentalism, although credible and sustainable solutions need durable and legitimate foundations.

The United Kingdom is clearly a problem, not a part of the solution, as shown by the Financial Times report on prime minister David Cameron's demands for Britain to be able to be excepted from regulation of a crucial part of the internal market, financial services.

Thus, Cameron wants to undermine the integrity of the internal market.



Ralf Grahn

Eurozone powers and limits (Updated)

Admittedly, the decisions by the governments of Italy and Spain and the the consequent interventions by the European Central Bank in the secondary bond markets brought relief to these Mediterranean countries. The president of the European Council welcomed the decisions:

Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, welcomes the decisions taken to strengthen fiscal discipline and growth; Brussels, 8 August 2011 (EUCO 58/11)

However, stock markets generally and on Wall Street plunged on Monday (Deutsche Welle), and Asian stocks continued tumbling on Tuesday (BBC News).

Thus, the global outlook has taken a turn for the worse.


Eurozone

Reiterating the need for speedy adoption and implementation by the euro area member states of the decisions of the 21 July 2011 eurozone summit is not going to stop contagion in its tracks.

In a 3 August 2011 note Why Spain and Italy are under attack and how to defend them, Willem Buiter (Citigroup) discussed the need for structural reform in the product and labour markets of Spain and Italy, the shortcomings of the EFSF and the need for the ECB to intervene. Italy and Spain have reacted, the European Central Bank has acted, but the remaining flaws of the improved EFSF and ESM seem to be off limits for European politicians.

President José Manuel Barroso's letter to the heads of state or government of the eurozone countries has been suspected of bad timing (FT Brussels blog) and accused of causing the bond market plunge (BBC Business News, before update). Most of all, Barroso's letter has met with rejection from European political leaders and their spokespersons.

The European leaders have much on their plate, as they try to calm sentiments, secure passage of the agreed measures, explain complex issues to increasingly distrustful publics and to remain electable.

However, in the long run the refusal of the governments to embark on an open discussion about the political and economic fundamentals of the economic and monetary union (EMU) may end up doing more harm than good.

Only a federal solution can provide the Union with the effective tools it requires, declared the liberal leader Guy Verhofstadt.


Update 9 August 2011: Stanley Pignal on the FT Brussels blog has an entry about Otmar Issing's opinion piece in the Financial Times. Democratic legitimacy is the sine qua non for the political and fiscal union Europeans and their euro need, is my reading. Let's get talking about taking the right decisions at the right level, in a democratic manner.



Ralf Grahn

Barroso calls for end to eurozone contagion

When the eurozone is marching towards more sustainable deficits, why did the bond markets suddenly pounce on Cyprus, Italy and Spain?

Their public deficits are far from new. The structural weaknesses and the resulting lack of competitiveness of these Mediterranean countries are notorius – and age old old problems they will ultimately have to confront and overcome.

The twin tracks of the Stability and Growth Pact and the Europe 2020 strategy are as true as ever.

After the competitiveness theme, with the Wealth of Nations roundup and Growth and competitiveness: California vs Europe as the latest contributions, I wanted to take a peek at the latest patients destined for compulsory care by the financial markets.

My musings started a series about Cyprus, Italy and Spain in the eurozone crisis (in Swedish, but with a number of links to materials available in English).

Grahnblawg: Turbulens trots minskande budgetunderskott i Europa (3 August 2011)

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: Euroakuten: Cypern, Italien och Spanien (3 August 2011)

Grahnblawg: Euroområdet: Kortsiktig nervositet och långsiktiga reformer (4 August 2011)

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: Ledare och bloggar om eurokrisen (4 August 2011)


Eurozone summit

In the background we have the eurozone crisis summit, with its conclusions on the agreed measures for Greece (including private sector involvement), extended powers for the EfSF and the ESM, lower rates for Ireland and Portugal, commitment to fiscal and growth targets etc:

Statement by the Heads of State or Government of the Euro Area and EU institutions; 21 July 2011 (4 pages)

Some may prefer a more journalistic approach. Spiegel Online explained the main decisions of the eurozone summit: What Was Decided at the Euro-Zone Crisis Summit (25 July 2011).

Barroso goes public

Yesterday brought some additions to the emerging picture. Commission president José Manuel Barroso published his letter to the heads of state or government. Despite the economic and budgetary fundamentals, Barroso explicitly mentioned the bond markets of Italy and Spain (as well as other euro area states) as ”a cause of deep concern” for the euro area as a whole.

Barroso called for the speedy and unconditional approval of the decisions of the eurozone summit 21 July 2011, but he also saw the need for further action to stem contagion. Barroso publicly proposed a reassessment of the beefed up European Financial Stability Facility EFSF and the the new European Stability Mechanism ESM:

Whatever the factors behind the lack of success, it is clear that we are no longer managing a crisis just in the euro-area periphery. Euro-area financial stability must be safeguarded, with all EU institutions playing their part with the full backing of euro area Member States. We need also to consider how to further improve the effectiveness of both the EFSF and the ESM in order to address the current contagion.

Concretely, I would like to call on you to accelerate the approval procedures for the implementation of these decisions so as to make the EFSF enhancements operational very soon. These changes should also avoid introducing excessive constraints in terms of either additional conditionality or collateralisation of EFSF lending. I trust that governments and national Parliaments will rapidly approve these decisions necessary to improve the EFSF flexibility.

I also take the opportunity to urge a rapid re-assessment of all elements related to the EFSF, and concomitantly the ESM, in order to ensure that they are equipped with the means for dealing with contagious risk.

Media

Andrew Rettman on EUobserver noted that the Barroso letter was more outspoken than his earlier press statement. The article analysed the text of the letter and added comments by the Commission spokesperson: Barroso raises alarm about severity of euro crisis (4 August 2011).

EurActiv draws a background picture, with references and links to messages from various European capitals: Barroso asks leaders to stand firm on pledges (4 August 2011).

Ivan Delibasic contributed with another background in New Europe: It's all 'bear' and no 'bull' for Spain and Italy (4 August 2011).

In the European Voice, Simon Taylor offers an account of the Barroso letter: Barroso warns of eurozone crisis spreading (4 August 2011).

Deutsche Welle reported both German disapproval of Barroso's ideas and the downward spiral on bond and equity markets (in German): Barroso befürchtet Ausbreitung der Euro-Krise (4 August 2011.

On the FT Brussels blog, Joshua Chaffin discussed the vicissitudes of politics in Cyprus against the backdrop of the eurozone crisis: How will Cyprus restore its finances? (4 August 2011).

***

To grow commensurate to the tasks, the European Union (eurozone) needs to become more effective, which in turn requires a union based on the sovereignty of its citizens.



Ralf Grahn


P.S. Great resource: For quality articles and wise comment from the European press, you can follow Presseurop in any of ten available languages.

Switzerland: European Union playing seek

Yesterday we looked at some issues between the European Union and Switzerland, but especially for useful information about where the relationship is going. On this count, the own-initiative resolution from the European Parliament was almost the only thing with real informational value unearthed by a quick search: Can’t live with them, can’t live without them: European Union and Switzerland (20 October 2010).

Almost, I said, because I left the public statements by president Herman Van Rompuy and president José Manuel Barroso to this post.

Herman Van Rompuy

Among older news on the EEAS country page for Switzerland we find what president Van Rompuy uttered in public after meeting the president of Switzerland in July:

Remarks by Herman VAN ROMPUY, President of the European Council, following his meeting with Doris LEUTHARD, President of the Swiss confederation; Brussels, 19 July 2010 PCE 169/10

This is what Van Rompuy told the citizens of the European Union after a ‘very fruitful discussion’:

We cover[ed] a lot of ground today. We examined the state of our bilateral relations. More specifically, we have discussed the perspectives for Switzerland’s European integration policy. We have examined the functioning of our relations based on a set of bilateral agreements (more than 120) that unite us. I've expressed [to] the President the importance for these agreements to work well and to be implemented by both sides properly.

We have also discussed how to improve our relations for the future. The EU is convinced on the need to develop the relations with Switzerland on sound legal and political foundations. The EU Council Conclusions of December 2008 laid down the criteria and conditions which must be fulfilled by future negotiations allowing the participation of Switzerland in our internal market and policies.

Such criteria and conditions refer in particular to the acceptance of the evolution of the acquis and its homogeneous interpretation and application.

I know that an important political debate in this regard is taking place in Switzerland, as well as in [the] EU. I've expressed the EU readiness to explore jointly possible solutions to address these questions.

Besides the commonplaces, Van Rompuy left one interesting clue; not to the mandates for ongoing negotiation processes, but a historical reference to Council conclusions from December 2008.

The obvious reference should be the conclusions of the External Relations Council 8 to 9 December 2008, but we come up empty. We fare no better if we check the GAERC General Affairs press release of 8 December 2008. Perhaps it meant the presidency conclusions from the European Council 11 to 12 December 2008? No luck.

'Switzerland' is mentioned in the context of limited issues by the Ecofin Council, the Epsco configuration and the Agriculture and Fisheries formation during December 2008, but I failed to find anything resembling a reset of EU and Swiss relations in general.

The conclusions from the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) 22 February 2010, available through the EEAS country page news, mentioned Lybia’s conflict with Switzerland and the participation of Switzerland in the Media 2007 programme.

I decided not to trawl through the whole ocean of Council documents in order to find something of value about the future relationship between the European Union and Switzerland.

I think I did enough to reach the following conclusion: The EEAS and Council websites are not particularly helpful. Naturally, there are guidelines and mandates, as well as minute records of how the negotiations are going, but not readily accessible.

José Manuel Barroso

Let us look, instead, how matters have advanced in three months. In a speech in Geneva, Commission president José Manuel Barroso gave some indications of what the European Union wishes for the future (in French): Déclaration du Président Barroso au point de presse avec la Conseillère fédérale suisse Micheline Calmy-Rey (14 October 2010, SPEECH/10/558).

We see the will to streamline procedures, and to improve the adoption and application of EU legislation, but how the changes should be brought about is expressed in public with diplomatic lack of precision:

J’ai surtout encouragé l’ouverture continue de la Suisse pour améliorer l’encadrement institutionnel de nos relations.

J’ai signalé à Mme Calmy-Rey l'importance de rendre nos relations et surtout l'application du droit plus dynamiques et plus uniformes pour une meilleure sécurité juridique. Ceci est dans l'intérêt de nos citoyens et de nos entreprises.

Notamment nous devons progresser sur les aspects horizontaux et institutionnels suivants:
• adoption de nouveau acquis et sa mise à jour dynamique
• mise en œuvre uniforme et harmonieuse; surveillance de l'application de l'acquis dans un cadre institutionnel
• adoption de la jurisprudence européenne
• règlement des différends

C'est sur ces questions que nous devons travailler .C'est essentiel pour permettre aux négociations en cours de progresser.

Le marché intérieur est un ensemble cohérent qui ne peut pas être fractionné. Une participation accrue à notre marché intérieur et à nos politiques demande donc l’acceptation par la Suisse de nos règles communes.

Evidemment, ceci doit se faire dans le respect de la souveraineté du peuple suisse. Nous sommes prêts à explorer comment il est possible de réconcilier nos règles du jeu avec la souveraineté suisse et nous pensons que c'est possible, avec imagination, de trouver cette solution.

Barroso’s public comments itemise the issues concerning the adoption of the EU body of (new) law (acquis) and its homogeneous interpretation and application, but they bring little new to light, when we compare them with what Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council had said three months earlier, in July 2010.

Comment

Switzerland is surrounded by the European Union, so good and ordered relations are a must, or at least highly desirable for both sides. But the EU has hinted that it is tired of the laborious processes entailed by negotiating one bilateral agreement at a time and then administering and adapting each of the 120 treaties bilaterally every time a legal act is amended or the CJEU has given a new interpretation.

However the information on offer from the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the Council of the European Union is neither easily accessible nor particularly illuminating, given the importance of the EU-Swiss relations. The European Union is seeking something, but what exactly?

The gap between existing knowledge and readily accessible quality facts is plainly too wide. The public has been left blindfolded.




Ralf Grahn



P.S. Paolo Maria Grossholz runs a special kind of blog, called A 12 Stelle (evoking the twelve stars of Europe). It is listed on blogger, but instead of traditional blog posts written by the author it functions by highlighting and linking to practically all press releases from the EU institutions which are of interest to enterprises. For the Milan based blogger Italian is the primary language, but otherwise the English version is chosen. In the end, it works like a useful news ticker for corporations and SMEs.

Since I mentioned Bloggingportal.eu the last time, the multilingual aggregator for Euroblogs has added one to its numbers. There are now 676 blogs related to European Union and Council of Europe affairs listed. There is still a need for a few voluntary editors to tag blog posts according to subject. Join the team!

Europe 2020 strategy Press pack: Better, but still shotgun approach

What the Barroso II Commission has presented as its make of break challenges (raison d’être) are sound public finances and growth-enhancing reforms leading to new jobs. However, a long time has passed since formal endorsement of the Europe 2020 strategy by the European Council (17 June 2010; EUCO 13/10).



Since then the Commission as a body has done little to take ownership of or at least to communicate the developments concerning the Europe 2020 strategy (EU2020) in a holistic manner, as seen in yesterday’s blog post about the central web portal: Europe 2020 website: From deplorable to absolute disgrace (4 October 2010).



This morning, the latest unsorted updating link on the Commission’s central Europe 2020 strategy web page was still from 17 July 2010, regarding funding for research and innovation.



EU2020 Press pack



On selected wide themes the Commission offers Press packs. In this case there is a Press pack on offer: Europe 2020 – a new economic strategy.

It clearly beats the central Europe 2020 strategy website, as it contains recent speeches by Commissioners and other press releases relevant to the EU2020 theme.

I have picked some of the more interesting ones for EU2020 as a whole:



Vice-President of the European Commission and the Commissioner responsible for inter-institutional relations and administration Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ spoke at the EESC: The Commission programme and social players' ownership of the Europe 2020 Strategy (17 September 2010; Speech/10/460).




The president of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, spoke to the US Council on Foreign Relations: Stabilise, Consolidate, Reform: EU Moves from Crisis Management to Reform Agenda (23 September 2010; Speech/10/478).




The Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, László Andor, addressed the Employment Committee of the European Parliament: 2011 Commission Work Programme (September 2010; Speech/10/512 30).




During the ongoing Open Days 2010 in Brussels, the European Week of Regions and Cities from 4 to 7 October 2010, 6,000 regional and local representatives meet under the headline Europe 2020: competitiveness, co-operation and cohesion for all regions.


The updated Press pack is better than the central EU2020 web page, which is dead as the dodo, but it still reflects a shotgun approach, without clear ownership.

Europe is worth something better.




Ralf Grahn



P.S. The multilingual aggregator for EU related blogs keeps growing. There are now 670 Euroblogs, or blogs related to EU (and CoE) affairs, listed on Bloggingportal.eu. You can take a look at the stream of all new posts, or follow the editors’ choices on the front page. You can also subscribe to the streams (all or highlighted) and the newsletters (daily or weekly) without cost.



Bloggingportal.eu needs a few more voluntary editors for the daily tagging of posts according to subjects. Why not keep informed by reading about European affairs, improve your language skills and do something useful by joining the team of editors?

EU: From Monti report to Single Market Act

In his ”State of the Union” speech, the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, outlined the Commission’s Work Programme for 2011.

With regard to the economy, including the internal market, Barroso set the tone during the introduction:

Now is the time to modernise our social market economy so that it can compete globally and respond to the challenge of demography. Now is the time to make the right investments for our future.

The inter-related efforts, dealing with the economic crisis and governance, as well as restoring growth for jobs by accelerating the Europe 2020 (EU2020) reform agenda, were the first two major challenges Barroso mentioned out of five in all.

The 7 September 2010 speech in the European Parliament saw sound public finances as a means to an end: sustainable and inclusive growth for jobs. The aim of the Europe 2020 strategy is to get more people into jobs, boost the competitiveness of companies and deepen the single market.




Single Market Act



Barroso referred to the report by Mario Monti and he promised Commission proposals in October 2010 to deepen the internal market.



Barroso’s letter to the members of the European Parliament (MEMO/10/393) contained more detail about the draft Commission Work Programme (CWP) for 2011, to be adopted by the end of October.



After reminding the MEPs of the flagship initiatives of the EU2020 strategy, Barroso described the coming proposals to unlock the potential of the Single Market. The CWP 2011 will include:

- Measures to be set out in the Single Market Act
- A European framework of reference for contract law and action against the obstacles that businesses and citizens meet when trying to recover debt claims in other Member States. When access to capital is limited, rapid enforcement of claims is essential for the survival of businesses
- An assessment of progress on the development of roaming services
- Revised rules on the re-use of public sector information
- The conclusion of work on collective redress
- Defining how the EU can contribute to addressing the huge challenge of pension reform

Barroso also promised smart regulation, namely proposals to reduce the administrative burden on economic operators, especially small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).




Ralf Grahn





P.S. Bloggingportal.eu needs a few more voluntary editors for the daily tagging of posts according to subjects. Why not increase your understanding of European affairs, improve your language skills and do something useful by joining the team of editors?



Politics, policies, economics and law at a European level are becoming more important in a globalising world. So does the multilingual aggregator for EU-related blogs. There are now 669 Euroblogs, or blogs related to European Union (and Council of Europe) affairs, listed on Bloggingportal.eu. You can take a look at the stream of all new posts, or follow the editors’ choices on the front page. You can also subscribe to the streams (all or highlighted) and the newsletters (daily or weekly) without cost.

European Parliament: Save your image!

It was mystifying: The European Commission informed the public that president José Manuel Barroso had agreed with the European Parliament to deliver a yearly “State of the Union” address, incorporated into the Framework Agreement between the institutions. However, I failed to find any such speech in the agreement annexed to the latest version of the European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure (July 2010; Annex XIV, Annex 2).

How could it be that an institutional innovation with high symbolic meaning was not where it was supposed to be?

Concluding that I must have missed something, I asked for help from readers and I decided to look for more information.



Draft reports

This search led me to two draft reports by Paolo Rangel for the EP Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO).

The first document concerns a draft revised framework agreement:



DRAFT REPORT on the revision of the framework agreement on relations between the European Parliament and the Commission; 5.8.2010; 2010/2118(ACI)
[ACI = Interinstitutional agreement procedure]


Even after renewed reading, I failed to find any explicit mention of the symbolically important and supposedly new “State of the Union” address. The agreement to be approved and “annexed to this decision” (point 11) was in fact not included.


The second draft report concerned changes to the EP’s Rules of Procedure, caused by the new agreement:




DRAFT REPORT on the adaptation of Parliament's Rules of Procedure to the revised framework agreement on relations between the European Parliament and the Commission; 12.8.2010; 2010/2127(REG)
[REG = Parliament’s Rules of Procedure]


As we see, these amendments are intended to enter into force on the first day after the entry into force of the revised framework agreement. No mention of a “State of the Union” address was found in this report either, including the proposed amendments to the Rules of Procedure.



Interim conclusion

The AFCO Committee had not voted on its final report. The final AFCO report had not been approved by the EP plenary. The revised framework agreement was not in force.

In addition, the Rangel draft reports are deficient. No mention of a major novelty, the “State of the Union” address. Despite the wording, the agreement to be approved is absent, so lack of transparency adds to the material flaw.

Based on these findings, the Commission’s information about the agreement with the European Parliament on the delivery of a yearly “State of the Union” address, incorporated into the Framework Agreement between the institutions, looks incomplete, not to say misleading.



In both cases, the members of the AFCO Committee have until 15 September 2010 to table amendments to the draft reports.



There are enough blog and other media reactions to show that the title “State of the Union” led to false expectations and detracted from the real purpose of the speech: to introduce the Commission’s Work Programme to the European Parliament, offering the EP an opportunity to add its views to the process.



All is not lost

Members of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO), you still have the opportunity to put this right. Table and agree on an amendment to exclude the “State of the Union” address from the revised framework agreement between the European Parliament and the Commission.

It would be a wise move to protect the image of your own institution, the European Parliament, and it would save the European Commission from its own foolishness.




Ralf Grahn

Barroso: The state of the Commission’s Work Programme

Yesterday The European Citizen called José Manuel Barroso’s “State of the Union” address The Commissarial Speech (8 September 2010).

According to Eurocentric:

The speech itself actually wasn't that bad, if you dropped your preconceptions about the State of the Union imagery. As Honor Mahony pointed out, it was quite good as a work programme speech (particularly for a Barroso-speech).

Honor Mahony’s EUobserver blog post The speech (7 September 2010).


In my view, Eurocentric and Mahony clearly showed the conflict between a speech about the Commission's Work Programme (which it was) and a State of the Union address (which it wasn't, but was marketed as).

Underlining the 'special relationship' between the Commission and the European Parliament meant that Barroso directed the speech even more at the MEPs, who know pretty well what's coming up in their Committees anyway, and are fairly blasé.

This effectively excluded a speech to the citizens of the European Union, as well as themes, concerns and images they (we) relate to.

Eurocentric’s headline and post encapsulated this well.

For some strange reason, both Commission leadership (president Barroso) and EP leaders (president Jerzy Buzek) have wanted to market Barroso’s speech as an EU “State of the Union” address (a first), and the concept lies buried in an obscure point in an annex to the revised framework agreement on relations between the European Parliament and the Commission, soon to be approved and to enter into force.




However, essentially Barroso’s intervention was about the Commission’s Work Programme for 2011, which he presented in two parts: a letter to the Members of the European Parliament and in his speech to the EP plenary session.

Read them as such, and they begin to make sense.

But what should they call it, when some day one of the EU presidents decides to starts discussing with the citizens of the European Union?

A fireside chat?




Ralf Grahn

Prodi preceded Barroso’s first EU “State of the Union”

Many of us have believed (and reported) that EU Commission president José Manuel Barroso held the first “State of the Union” address for the European Parliament, but instead it was his first.

Information published on the Internet can be corrected or augmented in almost real time. I feel duty bound to publish a correction.



On Twitter @Elena2020 has tweeted two links with speeches by then Commission president Romano Prodi, both headlined State of the Union. She was also kind enough to supply the information in the comments section on this blog. The first press release, from December 2001, speaks about an annual State of the Union debate. The second link reproduces the text of a speech Prodi held in November 2003, presented as his last address to the European Parliament on the state of the Union.



In an off topic post, Kommissions-Präsident Barroso spricht zum Volk (7 September 2010), Kartellblog linked to the Prodi address 2001 mentioned in the first link.

In other words, Barroso’s “State of the Union” speech was not quite the novelty I (and many others) presented it as.

Corrected as we stand, should we retract our criticism of the pretentious title now when we know that there are precedents? We should learn from our mistakes, shouldn’t we?

Before drawing conclusions, let us look at what a few European thinkers have said on Euroblogs.



On the Federal Union blog, Richard Laming saw “a delightful power struggle going on within the EU institutions”, in the blog entry : Who’s in charge (7 September 2010).



Vihar Georgiev on European Union Law spoke about The Hidden Agenda of the State of the European Union Debate (7 September 2010), here in Bulgarian. He conjectured that a tweet by the president of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, revealed not only an objective for the future – a parliamentary Europe - but also some satisfaction with the results already achieved.



In Barroso’s Power Play: The State of the Union Address (7 September 2010), instead of the dawning of “parliamentary Europe” Eurogoblin saw President Barroso’s latest move in the chess-game of power politics being played between the EU institutions as the hidden agenda.

No integration “by stealth” or “hidden agenda” for me. I want to see the birth of a federal, effective and democratic European Union - overt agenda - but I still think that a “State of the Union” address by the president of the EU Commission is unwarranted by the current institutional setup and it falls flat when compared to the USA.



There has been so much negative criticism of the title and content of Barroso’s speech that I want to mention one spirited defence. In the blog post Más presidente (8 September 2010) the Spanish blogger Eva Peña, on Eva en Europa, saw the debate in Strasbourg as a historic day on the road towards a political Europe.



Dear reader, judge for yourself. Regardless of the glorified title, at the heart of Barroso’s intervention was the Commission’s Work Progamme for 2011, which he presented in two parts: a letter to the Members of the European Parliament and in his speech to the EP plenary session.




Ralf Grahn

Cheering crowds? Barroso’s EU “State of the Union” address

In the United States of America with a population of 310 million (Wikipedia), President Barack Obama’s first State of the Union address drew 48 million television viewers, according to USA Today.

With the same 15.5 per cent of the 501 million population of the European Union, about 78 million EU citizens would have followed the “State of the Union” speech by Commission President José Manuel Barroso.



Before the “big speech” I remarked on the constitutional difference between the powers and the election of the President of the USA versus the position of the European Commission in the “institutional triangle”. In the USA, the State of the Union speech is enshrined in the Constitution, while in the European Union you have to struggle to find a legal base. (I am still waiting for clarifications promised from the European Parliament.)

When the chiefs of the EU Commission and the European Parliament felt the pressure to draw a decent crowd among 736 MEPs, they panicked.



In How many presidents does it take to run Europe? (7 September 2010), The Economist’s new Charlemagne noted how Nigel Farage, of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group and UKIP, seized on the constitutional differences and the viewer numbers between the USA and the EU.



The European Parliament’s press release, State of the (E)Union: The Europe of today and tomorrow debated in the EP, mentions no figures for viewers on the EP’s own channel europarltv, nor did I find any statistics regarding the session elsewhere on the EP website.



We can only speculate that EP Live may have experienced a peak of viewers because of the hyped name and the critical discussion preceding the “State of the Union” address, but how many thousands would we speak about?.



Despite the absence of cheering (or jeering) crowds, “Séance en direct” is an important public service, giving EU citizens online access to the plenary sessions – live or recorded - of the European Parliament in the original language and 22 other language channels. Agendas and documents complement the supply, which guarantees a certain level of transparency in EU affairs.




Ralf Grahn

Barroso’s “State of the Union” speech: A comedy of errors (The trailer)

Part of our common European cultural heritage is The Comedy of Errors, by the great William Shakespeare. Then we have a comedy of errors, by and for us lesser mortals, “a dramatic work in which the action usually features a series of comic instances of mistaken identity” (sources: Wikipedia).

We are firmly in the lowlier category during pre-season build-up for the European Union’s first “State of the Union” address, starring Commission president José Manuel Barroso this Tuesday morning in Strasbourg.

We have the pompous title, borrowed from the United States of America.

We have the case of mistaken identity.

In the USA: “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America”, elected according to the Constitution (Article II, as amended). He is, among other things, the Commander in Chief and he has the Power to make Treaties as well as administrative, ambassadorial and judicial appointments (with the Advice and Consent of Senate). “He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient, … “.

In the European Union, the Commission plays an important part in the “institutional triangle”. The Commission promotes the general interest and it takes initiatives to that end. It ensures the application of the Treaties, it executes the budget and manages programmes, and it ensures parts of the EU’s external representation.

However, the President of the Commission is not the executive of the European Union. The member states, represented in the European Council and the Council of the European Union, ultimately the national parliaments, hold the crucial levers of power.

The directly elected European Parliament represents the citizens of the European Union, but it does not legislate alone, mainly together with the Council and the EP is (partly) excluded from fundamental questions, such as Treaty reform, the long term budget (taxes and expenditure), as well as foreign and security policy and defence.

Therefore, when the President of the Commission José Manuel Barroso and the President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek have agreed on a “State of the Union” address, we have a case of mistaken identity, even if I actually want the European Union to become a parliamentary democracy with a politically accountable government.



We are reminded of Aesop’s Fable “The Frog and the Ox”, where the frog tried to inflate itself to the size of an ox (source: Wikipedia). You may remember how it ended.



We descended into pure slapstick when the leadership of the European Parliament decided to impose penalties on MEPs absent from the “State of the Union” debate, a decision met by opposition and ridicule (source: England Expects blog).



The farcical talents were put to full use when the EP leadership apparently backtracked on the sanctions, as told by England Expects.


According to USA Today, President Obama’s first official State of the Union address drew 48 million viewers in the US alone.




When the chiefs of the EU Commission and the European Parliament felt the pressure to draw a decent crowd among 736 MEPs, they panicked.

Minute differences at the box office, methinks.


Communication and PR teachers, as well as public affairs consultants will flourish on this for ages to come.


To continue in the vein of light entertainment, the Bloggingportal.eu blog received twenty comments (including suggestions) for its Barroso Buzzword Bingo. Soon the real speech will be measured against the guesses of and expectant crowd. (Coming to think of it, I jotted down a list of all too serious and probable words, missing out on the humorous potential.)

The trailer of the new comedy from Strasbourg town was promising enough. When do you get to see the real stuff?



A comedy of errors is coming really soon to a screen near you, courtesy of EP Live, broadcast today from 8:55 local time in Strasbourg. You can choose between twenty three language channels (original plus 22).




Ralf Grahn

Help me find legal and political decisions concerning EU “State of the Union” debate

The European Commission’s agenda from 6 September to 3 October 2010 tells us:

During his second mandate, the President has agreed with the European Parliament to give a yearly address on the State of the Union. This has been incorporated into the Framework Agreement that has been agreed with the European Parliament. President Barroso will give an assessment of where the Union stands and outline the political challenges for the next 12 months.

I looked for the framework agreement between the European Commission and the European Parliament, annexed to the European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure (July 2010): Annex XIV, from page 177 (including its annexes).

Even if there are many commendable provisions on how the Commission shall keep the European Parliament informed, I failed to find an annual address on the “State of the Union” or a speech resembling that scheduled for September.



The newsletter from the European Parliament on the 6-9 September 2010 Strasbourg plenary session offers us the following information about the State of the Union debate with President Barroso:

Commission President José Manuel Barroso will give his first-ever State of the Union address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday. The ensuing debate will enable MEPs to review with Mr Barroso the developments in the European Union since the EP elections of June 2009 and the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in December 2009.

The Legislative Observatory Oeil adds the following referral regarding the procedure: EP 110-p2. Let us quote the first two paragraphs of Rule 110:

Rule 110 Statements by the Commission, Council and European Council

1. Members of the Commission, the Council and the European Council may at any time ask the President of Parliament for permission to make a statement. The President of the European Council shall make a statement after each of its meetings. The President of Parliament shall decide when the statement may be made and whether it is to be followed by a full debate or by 30 minutes of brief and concise questions from Members.

2. When placing a statement with debate on its agenda, Parliament shall decide whether or not to wind up the debate with a resolution. It shall not do so if a report on the same matter is scheduled for the same or the next part-session, unless the President, for exceptional reasons, proposes otherwise. If Parliament decides to wind up a debate with a resolution, a committee, a political group or at least 40 Members may table a motion for a resolution.

If Barroso’s “statement” has morphed into a “State of the Union” debate, does this mean that all other members of the Commission, the Council and the European Council can, from now on, use the same epithet for their statements to the EP plenary?

How about the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, whose duty it is to make a statement after each meeting of the European Council?


Since I must have missed some pertinent points, could the European Commission or the European Parliament, please give me more accurate information about the legal and political decisions concerning this major institutional novelty, the State of the Union address?




Ralf Grahn



P.S. Comments relevant to the topic discussed in each Grahnlaw blog post are most welcome. However, the number of spam comments has skyrocketed. This is the sad reason for comment moderation, so it may take a while before your valued comment appears.

It is easier to understand a language than to use it correctly. As Eurobloggers we could and should promote interaction among Europeans across borders and between linguistic communities. Grahnlaw has adopted a multilingual comment policy:

I do my best to read comments in Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish or Swedish, even if the Grahnlaw blog and my possible replies are in English.

European Commission: Start by publishing Reding’s ‘communication revolution’ plan!

The information leaked to EurActiv remains the main basis for the public discussion about the communication ‘revolution’ planned by commissioner Viviane Reding for the European Commission, but the information is far from complete.



The College of commissioners has discussed Reding’s communication proposals on 1 to 2 September 2010, but we have seen no further information about how the plans were received or what the next steps are going to be.



How the Commission communicates = interacts with 501 million citizen-stakeholders is much more than a matter of internal organisation; it is a fundamental question, especially in the wake of the latest Eurobarometer poll of public opinion in the European Union.

More mundane matters than the Commission’s relationship with the citizens it has been appointed to serve are routinely discussed at length: published in press releases, highlighted in speeches, augmented by independent studies and stakeholder seminars, published for public consultations and later refined as policy proposals.

Tuesday morning 7 September 2010, the president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, should use his first “state of the union address” to explain how the European Commission intends to start interacting with the citizens of the European Union in new and better ways, including full disclosure of its approach to communication.

Before any policy or administrative decisions are taken, a public consultation on Reding’s communication plan is an important first step to re-engage with civil society.

Naturally, a wise Commission would then take sensible advice on board.




Ralf Grahn




P.S. The purpose of the European Day of Languages on 26 September 2010 is to inspire you to learn a foreign language.



In this context the European Commission in the UK arranges a Day of Multilingual Blogging, as described by Antonia Mochan on the Euonym blog (Talking about the EU). The UK Representation is joined by the multilingual aggregator Bloggingportal.eu and individual Eurobloggers.



Besides being fun and enriching for your soul, languages are an important business, an advantage when you trade and crucial for landing EU jobs, Antonia tells her British compatriots. (The same goes for other EU countries.)



On the event page on Facebook, 122 European bloggers have already signed up to participate in the pan-European Day of Multilingual Blogging, and 109 may be attending. Join the event!

The Twitter hashtag is #babel.

Have you noticed the multilingual blog aggregator, where you can find the posts from blogs related to EU affairs?



It is called Bloggingportal.eu, and it has grown to collect the entries by 662 Euroblogs. You can access the page with all the new posts or the front page selection, subscribe to RSS feeds for all posts or editors’ choices (front page), and subscribe to the daily and weekly newsletter.

Reading foreign language Euroblogs offers you two benefits: You become better informed about European affairs and you have fun learning languages.



One example: Even without the Day of Multilingual Blogging, I practice multilingual blogging by occasional posts on my Finnish blog Eurooppaoikeus and my Swedish blog Grahnblawg, in addition to more frequent posting on Grahnlaw (in English).

What’s in a name? Barroso’s State of the Union address

What’s in a name? that which we call a rose,
By any other name would smell as sweet;

(William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene ii)

As we know, the two young lovers died, so perhaps a name is not as innocuous as they wanted to believe.



One to underline the symbolic value of a name is the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, whose website announces his first State of the Union address:

"President Barroso will deliver the first State of the Union Address 2010 on Tuesday 7 September 2010 at 9 o'clock"

The President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso will deliver the first "State of the Union Address 2010" on Tuesday, 7 September 2010 at the European Parliament at 9 o'clock.

In his speech the President will give his assessment of where the Union stands and outline the political challenges for the next 12 months.

It seems as if Matizandrea’s Blog was the first among Eurobloggers to pay attention to the State of the Union speech: Lo stato dell’Unione (31 August 2010). Andrea Matiz sees the speech as the first step under the new communication strategy, but he wonders about the media attention the speech will get.



According to The Parliament magazine, the State of the union speech is going to top the Strasbourg plenary agenda of the European Parliament.



The Week in Bloggingportal newsletter and blog have already announced a pan-European Barroso Buzzword Bingo. (See Wikipedia article Buzzword bingo.)

This attempt at humour is one of the kinder reactions this far, although the newsletter text which laid the ground was fairly cutting.



In her EUobserver blog (1 September 2010), Honor Mahony stated that Barroso is not the only one who could aspire to speak for the European Union. The State of the Union name attracts critical comparison with the United States. Still, an honest assessment of where the EU is at, a little humility on the part of the commission president admitting where he could have done more and a few ambitious and clear plans for future would be a good start.



In a post ironically headlined Barroso, Leader of the Free World (but text in German), Max Steinbeis on Verfassungsblog asks if this is the right time to attract comparison which can only be embarrassing.



In the blog entry State of the Union Address, Your Freedom and Ours remarks that the president of the United States was elected according to the US Constitution.



Great Expectations?

Is it a justified move by Barroso and his team to name the Tuesday morning speech the State of the Union Address?

Have they given rise to expectations beyond the powers of the Commission?

Can Barroso, helped by his speechwriters, communicate an engaging vision for EU citizens?




Ralf Grahn



P.S. Comments relevant to the topic discussed in each Grahnlaw blog post are most welcome. However, the number of spam comments has skyrocketed. This is the sad reason for comment moderation, so it may take a while before your valued comment appears.

It is easier to understand a language than to use it correctly. As Eurobloggers we could and should promote interaction among Europeans across borders and between linguistic communities. Grahnlaw has adopted a multilingual comment policy:

I do my best to read comments in Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish or Swedish, even if the Grahnlaw blog and my possible replies are in English.

Barroso communicating Europe: National and European identities

We do not know if the EU Commissioners gathered in Val Duchesse agreed to shred Viviane Reding’s communication plan and decided to enter the fascinating world of 21st century communication instead, but we do know that we saw both disquieting and promising signs around the time of the Commission’s seminar retreat.



In English on EUobserver and thus widely distributed, Valentina Pop reported Commission president José Manuel Barroso on the defensive, blaming national capitals for the plunge in EU popularity.



Pop’s article seems to be based on the lengthier Barroso interview published the previous day in the Corriere della Sera: “Troppi Paesi individualisti e miopi – Così il progetto europeo si ferma”.

In my view, while the defensive aspects floated to the surface in Pop’s essentially correct summary, in the Italian interview the blame was balanced by more arguments about our identities, as well as proposals and activities of the European Union.

Barroso’s thoughts about our double identities – national and European – as well as a sense of ownership of the European project, are worth noting:

Non possiamo più pensare a una identità esclusiva, dobbiamo abituarci al concetto di identità multipla.

... i problemi non si risolveranno fino a che ogni nazione non vede il progetto europeo come il suo progetto.

In the blog post No National European Vision, The European Citizen noted the difficulties the EU institutions have in communicating what the European Union does, but he made the observations that member state governments do not fall or get re-elected based on their Council voting record, and national political parties are not designed for European politics and issues.


Anti-EU brigade



Gawain Towler (UKIP) sees the reasons for the EU’s unpopularity in simpler terms: because it is unresponsive, bureaucratic, undemocratic and irrelevant to people's lives. Democracy, or the lack of it, is the distinguishing feature between the national and the European level.



On his Telegraph blog, Daniel Hannan (anti-integrationist European Conservatives and Reformists Group) offers Five reasons why the EU is more unpopular than ever. Hannan lists the euro, the bail-outs, the sense of iniquity, the spiralling costs and the lack of democracy, but he offers no remedies.



In the Mail Online, Mary Ellen Synon empties her euroseptic tank, using Open Europe’s spin and her own fantasies to depict Barroso as a midnight stalker.

Are these anti-EU ideas helpful for our understanding? Perhaps there is reason to look at a few entries with constructive intent.



European ideas



On the academic blog collective Ideas on Europe, Giorgi Tabagari deals with the EU as a Scapegoat, showing approval of Barroso’s statement that we won’t solve the problems unless each nation sees the European project as its own. If the EU is merely deemed as a benefit like late Polish president once put quite bluntly, it will never manage to compete with the USA or emerging powers, Tabagari concludes.



In his previous blog entry, The European Union and the Crisis, Tabagari related the history of social policy at European level before offering prescriptions for the future of the European Union:

Once again there is only one way out: a common European fiscal and economic policy ruled by a European government which is properly empowered and thus able to provide an appropriate guidance. We also need a common European budget in support of the economy and of the people. The solution for the crisis should not necessarily be at citizens’ expense. Either we become united or we will perish, for the umpteenth time.

To put matters into perspective, The European Citizen makes a case for arguing with the “facts”, while acknowledging that the Eurobarometer results leave the battlefield of specific policies wide open. He points out the tendentious reporting by anti-EU commentators, supplying a few omitted facts. Among them:

... the trust rates for national governments are over 10% lower, and nobody is suggesting that national governments should stop mooting ideas or bringing forward policies (or, in the other extreme, being abolished to allow for more government from the "more trusted" EU level of governance).

Lessons?

The most vehement anti-EU sentiments reflect a domestic UK legitimacy problem more than they help our understanding of the European Union.

Let them bask in the glory of localism in post-Roman Britain, the ‘patriotic’ rebellions of Queen Boudicca, or whatever (in the spirit of Synon), but the rest of the EU has to think forward.

In my view, Barroso’s remarks on the need for European and national identities were equally directed at us EU citizens as at our national governments. We have to decide if we want the European project and EU level solutions.

Naturally, each one of us has reason to think about what our state could achieve on its own in this world of emerging powers.

Citizens seem to be critical of the European Union’s achievements by May 2010 regarding their main concerns – unemployment and the economy – but open towards EU level solutions.

The Commission and the other EU institutions still have to prove that they are a part of the solution, instead of a part of the problem. The battle of ideas The European Citizen referred to is on, with lessons to draw regarding politics, policies and communication.




Ralf Grahn



P.S. Comments relevant to the topic discussed in each Grahnlaw blog post are most welcome. However, the number of spam comments has skyrocketed. This is the sad reason for comment moderation, so it may take a while before your valued comment appears.

It is easier to understand a language than to use it correctly. As Eurobloggers we could and should promote interaction among Europeans across borders and between linguistic communities. Grahnlaw has adopted a multilingual comment policy:

I do my best to read comments in Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish or Swedish, even if the Grahnlaw blog and my possible replies are in English.

Europe 2020 strategy asleep?

As Commission president José Manuel Barroso said in the preface to the Europe 2020 proposal:

This is Europe's moment of truth. It is the time to be bold and ambitious.

Well said.

How about well done?



Europe 2020 web page




Look at the central Europe 2020 web page for the European Commission’s grand project: the strategy for jobs and growth.

In essence, we find links to the Commission’s March proposal and the conclusions of two meetings of the European Council. A few dusty links to canned contents in the margin.

No original or fresh content. Nothing to explain what is going on. No effort to raise interest or to engage.

Where are the reports on progress?
Where are the links to the ongoing work of the Commission services?
Where are the latest Council conclusions on various building blocks?
Where are the preparatory documents by Council working groups?
Where is the information about the dialogue between the national administrations and the Commission?
Where are the links to the national web pages?


Where is the feeling that anybody cares?




Ralf Grahn

Europe 2020 strategy: Barroso’s reform flotilla (flagship initiatives)

EU 2020 reform delivery of three priorities and five headline targets is promised through seven flagship initiatives.


The spring European Council gave the Commission green light to prepare the thematic programmes of the Europe 2020 strategy for jobs and growth:

The Commission will further develop and submit to the Council the actions it proposes to take at the EU level, notably through the flagship initiatives.

Conclusions of the European Council 25/26 March 2010 (document EUCO 7/10; point 5(f), page 3)



The first flagship to cast off was the Digital Agenda, which was given a favourable nod by the summer European Council (point 7, page 4):

7. Further to the presentation by the Commission of the first flagship initiative on a 'Digital Agenda for Europe', the European Council endorses the establishment of an ambitious action agenda based on concrete proposals and calls upon all institutions to engage in its full implementation, including the creation of a fully functioning digital single market by 2015. The Commission is invited to report on progress achieved by the end of 2011.

A fully functioning digital single market in five years echoes the TTE Council conclusions, but if the European Council really intends to replace 27 national markets by a single European one in five years, it is dynamite.


The June European Council also called for the rest of the planned flagship initiatives before the end of 2010 (point 8, page 4):

8. The European Council looks forward to the presentation of the other flagship initiatives before the end of the year.

See the conclusions of the European Council 17 June 2010 (document 4 EUCO 13/10).



Commission flotilla


Let us not be too harsh on commander José Manuel Barroso, if his flotilla has been endowed with seven flagships. We all tend to be carried over board, at times.

The main thing is that the thematic reform vessels deliver the goods.

Let us inspect the fleet, as briefly presented in the executive summary of (pages 5 to 6):





Commission: EUROPE 2020 - A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth; Brussels, 3.3.2010 COM(2010) 2020 final (35 pages)



Seven flagships


Christopher Columbus had only three small ships to discover the New World, so at least we can be numerically impressed by seven flagships, presented like this:

The Commission is putting forward seven flagship initiatives to catalyse progress under each priority theme:

– "Innovation Union" to improve framework conditions and access to finance for research and innovation so as to ensure that innovative ideas can be turned into products and services that create growth and jobs.

– "Youth on the move" to enhance the performance of education systems and to facilitate the entry of young people to the labour market.

– "A digital agenda for Europe" to speed up the roll-out of high-speed internet and reap the benefits of a digital single market for households and firms.

– "Resource efficient Europe" to help decouple economic growth from the use of resources, support the shift towards a low carbon economy, increase the use of renewable energy sources, modernise our transport sector and promote energy efficiency.

– "An industrial policy for the globalisation era" to improve the business environment, notably for SMEs, and to support the development of a strong and sustainable industrial base able to compete globally.

– "An agenda for new skills and jobs" to modernise labour markets and empower people by developing their of skills throughout the lifecycle with a view to increase labour participation and better match labour supply and demand, including through labour mobility.

– "European platform against poverty" to ensure social and territorial cohesion such that the benefits of growth and jobs are widely shared and people experiencing poverty and social exclusion are enabled to live in dignity and take an active part in society.

Not content with its flagship flotilla, the Commission wants shipyards to mushroom all over Europe, with the European Council as the naval architect and master shipbuilder (page 6):

The European Council will have full ownership and be the focal point of the new strategy. The Commission will monitor progress towards the targets, facilitate policy exchange and make the necessary proposals to steer action and advance the EU flagship initiatives. The European Parliament will be a driving force to mobilise citizens and act as co-legislator on key initiatives. This partnership approach should extend to EU committees, to national parliaments and national, local and regional authorities, to social partners and to stakeholders and civil society so that everyone is involved in delivering on the vision.

The Europe 2020 priorities, headline targets and flagship initiatives were then presented in detail from page 10 in the Commission proposal.


Will the flagship flotilla deliver the goods, or is it going to going to run aground like the Lisbon armada?




Ralf Grahn

Barroso II Commission proposed

President-elect José Manuel Barroso has proposed his second Commission, including the posts:

IP/09/1837
Brussels, 27 November 2009
President Barroso unveils his new team
José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, today announced the portfolios responsibilities for the next Commission. The President has held detailed consultations with all the Commissioners-designate in order to assign the right jobs to the right people. The President believes that this team can deliver the agenda for change he set out in the political guidelines he presented in September, following his nomination by all 27 Member States and before his approval as President of the next Commission by the European Parliament.

President Barroso said: "We have a European programme, and now we have a European team. On the basis of the nominations by the Member States, I have sought to design a College which can generate fresh ideas and new momentum on the biggest challenges we face in Europe today. This College will implement the political guidelines that I presented to the European Parliament. I am confident that this College will be decisive in steering Europe towards recovery and a sustainable social market economy that works for the people. I have put together a strong Commission to fill the enhanced role of Europe, including on the world stage, provided by the Lisbon Treaty. One of the key tasks of this College will be to give life to the new opportunities provided by the Lisbon Treaty. The Commissioners-designate will present themselves in the hearings before the European Parliament in January. After the vote of consent of the Parliament, it will be time to start to work and to produce results for our citizens."

The new College will have 7 Vice-Presidents, including Vice-President Baroness Catherine Ashton who will, at the same time, be the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December next. Three of the Vice-Presidents will be women. The new College will have 27 members, including President Barroso, one from each Member State. It includes 9 women. The members of the College come from different political families, notably the European People's Party (EPP), the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S & D), and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). 14 members, including the President, were already members of the outgoing College.

President Barroso has given a new look to the College of his second mandate. He has announced a number of new portfolios: Climate Action; Home Affairs; Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship. He has reconfigured a number of other portfolios: Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth; Health and Consumer Policy; Industry and Entrepreneurship; Research and Innovation; International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. There will be a new emphasis on inclusion in the Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion portfolio, and a renewed focus with the Digital Agenda portfolio.

Responsibilities of the Commissioners-designate

- Joaqu ín ALMUNIA: Competition. Vice-President of the Commission.
- László ANDOR: Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion.
- Baroness Catherine ASHTON: High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security and Vice-President of the Commission.
- Michel BARNIER: Internal Market and Services.
- Dacian CIOLOS: Agriculture and Rural Development.
- John DALLI: Health and Consumer Policy.
- Maria DAMANAKI: Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.
- Karel DE GUCHT: Trade.
- Š tefan FÜLE: Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy. *
- Johannes HAHN: Regional Policy.
- Connie HEDEGAARD: Climate Action.
- Maire GEOGHEGAN-QUINN: Research and Innovation.
- Rumiana JELEVA: International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. *
- Siim KALLAS: Transport. Vice-President of the Commission.
- Neelie KROES: Digital Agenda. Vice-President of the Commission.
- Janusz LEWANDOWSKI: Budget and Financial Programming.
- Cecilia MALMSTRÖM: Home Affairs.
- Günter OETTINGER: Energy.
- Andris PIEBALGS: Development.*
- Janez POTO Č NIK: Environment.
- Viviane REDING: Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship. Vice-President of the Commission.
- Olli REHN: Economic and Monetary Affairs.
- Maro š Š EF Č OVI Č : Vice-President of the Commission for Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration.
- Algirdas Š EMETA: Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-Fraud.
- Antonio TAJANI: Industry and Entrepreneurship. Vice-President of the Commission.
- Androulla VASSILIOU: Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth.

* In close cooperation with the High Representative/Vice-President in accordance with the treaties.

A table with a more detailed description of the portfolio responsibilities is attached.

Baroness Ashton will be the 1 st Vice-President. However, having regard to her specific functions, notably in the Council, the replacement of the President in his absence will be assured by the other Vice-Presidents, in the order of precedence defined by the President. The order of precedence is: Viviane Reding, Joaquín Almunia, Siim Kallas, Neelie Kroes, Antonio Tajani, Maro š Š ef č ovi č .

Next steps

The new Commission must gain approval from the European Parliament before it takes office for a term of office running until 31 October 2014. Commissioners-designate will appear in individual hearings before Parliamentary committees from 11-19 January. The vote of consent on the new Commission as a whole is foreseen to take place on 26 January. On the basis of the vote of consent, the Commission shall be appointed by the European Council. Then it can start working.

I t will do so on the basis of the political guidelines for the next Commission set out by President Barroso in September last. He highlighted the need for EU leadership, shaping globalisation on the basis of its values and interests. Taking global interdependence as the starting point, he set out a transformational agenda for the EU, a Europe that puts people at the heart of its agenda. He emphasized five key challenges facing Europe:

• Restarting economic growth today and ensuring long–term sustainability and competitiveness for the future
• Fighting unemployment and reinforcing our social cohesion
• Turning the challenge of a sustainable Europe to our competitive advantage
• Ensuring the security of Europeans
• Reinforcing EU citizenship and participation.

Priorities for tackling these challenges will be set in a ten year framework to deliver a vision for the EU in 2020, reinvigorating the inclusive social market economy that is the hallmark of the European way of life. The allocation of portfolios has been structured to deliver this ambitious agenda.

In his letters to each Commissioner setting out their new responsibilities, President Barroso has underlined the essential role of the Commission as the motor for the EU's efforts to address tomorrow's challenges, as well as the new opportunities provided by the Lisbon Treaty. He repeated his commitment to a smart regulation agenda, respecting subsidiarity and proportionality, focused on clear added value at EU level; paying particular attention to sound financial management; and full respect for the Code of Conduct of the Members of the European Commission. He has also stressed the need for a successful partnership with the Member States and the other institutions, in particular with the European Parliament.

Background note to editors
The CVs with pictures of the 26 Commissioners-designate are now available on :
http://www.ec.europa.eu/commission_designate_2009-2014/index_en.htm



There are more details in the press release.


Ralf Grahn



P.S. Do you find EUSSR myths fascinating? Are we EU citizens worth a better European Union? Educate yourself! There are already 487 Euroblogs aggregated on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. On most of the blogs you can comment and discuss our common European future.

Spectacular EU quotes

/

Brussels Blogger picked up the PES leader Poul Rasmussen demanding top jobs for European socialists:


“(W)e insist on having the post of High Representative, or if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified, the European Council President. We have several excellent candidates for these positions.”

***

After the spectacular failure of the Party of European Socialists (PES) to put forward a candidate for the Commission Presidency ahead of the European Parliament elections in June 2009, we look forward to a presentation of these excellent candidates and an open selection of those the PES is going to propose to the European Council.

***



Julien Frisch offers us the following paragraph about the newly approved José Manuel Barroso:

“After he got elected today, Barroso said that he wants to work more closely with the European Parliament to make the Union a "European parliamentary democracy".”

***

Did Barroso really say that, and if he did, did he mean it?

I failed to find the quote in question, but would the anti-Europeans and Europhobics have voted for a Commission President with real democratic ambitions at the European level?

Logically, Barroso would part from his bland political programme and embark on a revolutionary course, leading to a Convention aiming at a European federation, built on its citizens – liberté, fraternité, egalite and all that.

We, the people, eagerly await the next steps (or clarifications).


Ralf Grahn

Barroso officially nominated

When the European Council on 18 to 19 June 2009 put forward José Manuel Barroso as the intended nominee for the post of President of the Commission, this blog wondered why the heads of state or government did not make an official nomination, why the European Parliament should vote on an unofficial proposal and what the European leaders hoped to gain by delaying the nomination for a few weeks.

Typically, no reasons have been given, but today the Council has issued a press release on a written procedure:


“Council decides to nominate Mr. José Manuel Durão Barroso as the person it intends to appoint as President of the Commission for 2009-2014

Following the European Council on 18 and 19 June 2009, the Council, in the composition of Heads of State or Government, adopted today a decision nominating Mr. José Manuel Durão Barroso as the person the Council intends to appoint as President of the Commission for the period from 1 November 2009 to 31 October 2014.

The decision will be forwarded to the European Parliament.” (Brussels, 9 July 2009 11850/09) (Presse 212)


***
Sweden’s EU Minister Cecilia Malmström has commented in positive terms on her blog.



***

Meanwhile, the political groups in the European Parliament had told the Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt that the EP vote on Barroso will take place later than the July 2009 inaugural session.



Despite the timing, after the tripartite agreement between the political groups of the European People’s Party (EPP), the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (PASD) and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) the road seems to be clear for a reappointment of Barroso, as reported by Jean Quatremer on Coulisses de Bruxelles.



***

This will intensify the efforts by the national governments to propose members for the next Commission, if they have not done so, and to jockey for important posts for the next five years, although it is still unclear if the new Commission will be confirmed under Lisbon of Nice Treaty rules.


Ralf Grahn