EU leaders give Barroso full backing

ALL 25 leaders of the EU gave their unanimous support to the Portuguese Prime Minister’s nomination as the next President of the commission.

The 48-year-old centre-right politician, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, gave a sparkling performance in three languages his native Portuguese, French and English at a press conference immediately afterwards in Brussels.

With witty asides he addressed the criticisms that have been made of him and promised to lead a strong commission for the next five years.

The share out of the commissionerships had been discussed with him by a number of states, but he was not in a position to make any commitments until he took over his job, he said. It is well known that the Germans want a job that oversees competitiveness in the commission, even though under EU law the portfolios are supposed to be decided only by the commission President.

Mr Barroso was introduced by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern who said he will lead the commission with strength, vision and vigour.

He could probably have added humour to that list as Mr Barroso gave several examples of his wit.

He did not shy away from questions about his Maoist past and explained that when he was in law college in Lisbon during the dictatorship there were just two political movements to choose between Communism Soviet-style and Communism Chinese-style.

"Now I am a moderate but I have kept my energy and I am not ashamed of what I did in my law school in Lisbon," he said.

During his press conference he gave several indications of the kind of commission he will lead saying that it is time for Europe to consolidate its progress and build on what has been achieved.

He did not promise to introduce any innovations but in answer to his socialist critics in the European Parliament he said economic objectives needed to be reconciled to social ones.

The president-designate needs the parliament's approval to take up the job but said he would be happy with a majority of one something MEPs may not be happy with.

The head of the Council of the European Union, Javier Solana, was re-appointed and will also take over the foreign minister's post in the commission in 2006. The French deputy general secretary of the council, Pierre de Boissieu was also reappointed and will take over Mr Solana's job when he moves into his new role as agreed in the new constitution.

Mr Ahern was giving no indication of who he might nominate as Ireland's commissioner and refused to say if he would consider Pat Cox for the job.