Another new EU commissioner gets a thumbs down

The prospects of a leadership clash at the top of the European Union moved a step closer to reality yesterday when another European Parliament committee refused to endorse a second member of the team chosen by President-designate José Manuel Barroso.

The Parliament's industry, research and energy committee unanimously refused to give its blessing to the Hungarian Commissioner designate for energy Laszlo Kovacs because of his "lack of knowledge on the subject".

This follows the thumbs down given to Italian Commissioner-designate Rocco Buttiglione.

Parliament president Josep Borell told journalists during a press conference following a meeting with the president of the political groups that he had sent all the evaluation reports on the individual commissioners to Mr Barroso, adding "it is now up to him to decide the next step".

Mr Borell cautioned Mr Barroso against ignoring the Parliament's views on the new Commission. MEPs have expressed surprise at comments made by Mr Barroso and his press officers that talk of a reshuffle was "pointless speculation".

Mr Borell said Mr Barroso has been reminded by the European Parliament of the role he actually has. He was sure Mr Barroso will take the results of the hearings into consideration.

Mr Borell, a Socialist MEP, said that "the process (ratification) isn't over yet. Something new has happened. It is the first time we've seen a committee explicitly voting to reject a commissioner designate. That has not happened before and I don't know if anyone expected it to happen this time. It is certainly something new, which means that the Parliament and the Commission are on some virgin political land". The future of the next Commission now hangs in the balance as MEPs await Mr Barroso's formal reaction.

Sources at the European Parliament told The Times that some MEPs are threatening to reject Mr Barroso's Commission en masse if Prof. Buttiglione is not relieved of the justice portfolio. The sources said the Parliament would prefer not to have any clashes with the new Commission but at the same time MEPs wanted their decisions to be respected.