EU nations gear up to confirm next head of commission

Policymakers across the 25-nation European Union are gearing up for the parliamentary confirmation this week of former Portuguese premier Jose Manuel Barroso as the next president of the European Commission.

Mr Barroso will take over from current Commission chief Romano Prodi on Nov 1. Diplomats and officials agree that the president-in-waiting faces tough challenges, including running the sprawling and often ramshackle EU bureaucracy over the next five years and having supported the Iraq war, he will have to prove to Europe's anti- war campaigners that he can keep his distance from the United States.

As a representative of a small country, he will have to stand up to EU heavyweights Germany and France. And as everyone's second choice - Mr Barroso was only picked at the last minute by EU leaders after the Franco-German favourite Belgian Premier Guy Verhofstadt was vetoed by Britain and Italy - he will have to prove that he is not a second-class politician.

During two weeks of tough cross-questioning by often hostile European parliamentarians, the 48-year old former Portuguese premier proved he could talk the European talk with surprising ease and flourish.

A majority of the EU assembly's 732 lawmakers were clearly impressed by the polished and fairly convincing performance of the multi-lingual politician and gave Mr Barroso their overwhelming support.

Many were especially heartened by the fact that the one-time Maoist student activist-turned-conservative Portuguese premier has promised to bring a strong hand to his new EU role and vowed he will not take orders from national leaders.

One of Mr Barroso's first acts after securing parliamentary approval was to warn Germany that it cannot demand the appointment of a super commissioner for economic affairs, a post Berlin has said it wants reserved for its current Commission member Gunter Verheugen.

Mr Barroso said he would lead an executive which had "not one but 24 'super commissioners'." He also insisted he would decide on the share-out of Commission portfolios without meddling by governments which - in time-honoured EU tradition - are demanding the best jobs for their nationals.

At least eight members of the Commission should be women, Barroso underlined, adding that he was asking governments to come up with names of competent women to join his team.

In a striking change to current practice, the Commission president-elect has said all 25 members of the EU executive would work in the same building - the star-shaped Berlaymont - which is still being renovated.

This reverses a decision taken by current Commission chief Prodi to locate Commissioners in separate buildings in order to increase political oversight over an administration wracked by allegations of fraud, nepotism and mismanagement.

Although he received top marks from the European Parliament's conservative and liberal lawmakers, many socalists voted against Mr Barroso in protest, especially because of his pro-Iraq war stance.

But Barroso has been at pains to prove that he can rise above partisan politics, telling parliamentarians that he will "build a dynamic coalition" for Europe, including those who voted for and against him in the European Parliament.

"I will try and build bridges," Mr Barroso said. "I will be a Commission president for all Europeans, from the Mediterranean to the Baltic, from EU founding states to new entrants, from the poorest to the richest and from the smallest to the biggest," he said.

Significantly, Mr Barroso also highlighted his international ambitions, saying Europe must become a more powerful global player. "We are stronger when we speak with one voice," he said, adding that his key priority would be to heal wounds created by the Iraq war, which was backed by Britain and Italy, but opposed by France and Germany.

While his debut is certainly promising, Mr Barroso cannot expect an easy ride over the coming years. The future Commission president will have to ensure that the ten new EU states integrate correctly into the Union and supervise the possible start of negotiations with Turkey.

Reviving Europe's sluggish economy, reforming eurozone financial rules and establish a new seven-year spending plan for the 25 nation bloc will be other priorities. But Barroso's main challenge will be to fight rising Euro-apathy and - with at least 10 EU states planning public referendums on the new constitution over the next two years - to sell Europe and the EU to an increasingly sceptical European public opinion.