New EC chief promises a 'grand adventure'

Undaunted by sceptics and clashes with MEPs over the appointment of his team, the new EC chief said today he was determined to lead a strong executive and build a competitive Europe.

A day after taking office, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told students at the College of Europe in Bruges – traditionally seen as a training ground for Eurocrats – that he intended to lead a “strong and independent” team that would “flex more muscle” in Brussels.

“We need to be the responsible ones in Europe, able to take on populism and extremism ... and to take on those who attack Europe, which seems to be in fashion,” he said. ”It will be a grand adventure.”

Barroso, who has made his top priority the revitalisation of the EU’s sluggish economy, promised to increase research funding from Brussels to help Europe catch up in high-tech, future-oriented industries.

He said Europe invests only 1.1% of its gross domestic product in higher education, compared with 2.3% in the United States.

“The key is to be able to attract the top students,” he said. “If you want the union to be more competitive, we must put knowledge to work.”

Barroso hoped the keynote address will lend positive energy to his tenure after a rough and belated start. The former Portuguese prime minister’s induction was delayed by three weeks while he revamped his team to overcome European Parliament objections.

On his first day, a controversy over past legal troubles of Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot added to his problems.

But in an interview with several European newspapers today, Barroso said he considered Barrot’s explanations to be “more than sufficient” and the matter to be resolved.

Barroso also defended his performance in dealing with the Parliament and EU governments. “We can’t say that whenever there is a debate there is a crisis,” he was quoted as saying. “If this is a crisis, then I can live with this crisis.”

He said he would seek to interpret the EU’s oft-flouted rules for budgetary discipline with ”more subtlety, taking the economic cycle, long-term reforms, and other variables into account.”

He added that he understood the problems facing Germany, the EU’s sluggish giant, which is in danger of breaching the pact in 2005 for the fourth year in a row, and would work “constructively” with Berlin to find a solution.

He has also vowed to improve relations with Washington, long strained over the war in Iraq.

More generally, he is aiming to overcome the apathy of many Europeans toward the EU project and help sell the newly signed EU constitution, which must be ratified by all 25 member states before it can take effect.

It is an additional reason why the disputes surrounding several of his commissioners come at a bad time.

On Monday, Barroso defended Barrot despite criticism of the Frenchman’s failure to disclose a suspended sentence he received in 2000 for his role in a party funding scandal. Barrot was later pardoned and the conviction erased.

The assembly’s Liberal Democrats called on Barrot to resign, but the Socialist bloc appeared more forgiving. Leader Martin Schulz said he would consider the matter closed if Parliament’s lawyers back Barrot’s position.

Last month Barroso was forced to revamp his team when it became clear Parliament was poised to reject it because of comments about homosexuality and women by Italy’s first nominee, Rocco Buttiglione. Barroso postponed the vote and persuaded Italy to replace its man with another candidate, Franco Frattini.