New European Parliament considers Barroso weak President and looks to flex political muscle
The freshly-elected European parliament meets Tuesday for its first plenary session, keen to test the new political muscle it will develop once the EU's new reform package enters force. In a short session, starting in earnest in Strasbourg, the 736-member assembly will elect its president, but not the head of the EU's executive arm, the European Commission. Despite pressure to vote this week on the return of Jose Manuel Barroso for a second five-year term as president of the commission, the lawmakers have taken a stand and postponed any endorsement until the autumn.In the parliament, which sits in Brussels as well as Strasbourg, he has the backing of his own centre-right bloc, but doubts remain as to who exactly will endorse him, and he is reluctant to rely on fringe parties for backing.
The Greens in particular see Barroso as a lackey of the member nations, and have expressed bewilderment that no one else can be found. "We do not trust him to wholeheartedly implement the policies that Europe urgently needs," Greens leaders said in a statement. The commission is responsible for drawing up legislation that impacts daily on the lives of almost half a billion Europeans, as well as enforcing the rules already in place. It will have a budget of 138 billion euros in 2010.
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