Ahern will not get Euro parliament backing

SHOULD the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern change his mind and agree to become President of the European Commission, he may not get the support he would need from the European Parliament.

The group calling the shots in the parliament are the European People’s Party (EPP), of which Fine Gael is a member. They are the largest group in the parliament, with at least 277 of the 732 seats and they have warned they will only ratify a Commission President from their political family.

Fianna Fáil, while in power in the Dáil, is hardly a blip on the EU’s political landscape, being part of a small right-wing group in the parliament which is expected to break up before the new MEPs take their seats in mid-July.