Barroso offers more concessions to Parliament

Incoming European Commission President José Manuel Barroso made fresh concessions to the European Parliament yesterday in a bid to win backing for his EU executive.

But Prof. Barroso rejected left-wing demands to reshuffle his team and remove Italian Roman Catholic conservative Rocco Buttiglione from the justice and home affairs portfolio, saying that such a move would cause more problems than it would solve.

In a keynote speech to the EU legislature, a day before the crucial investiture vote, Prof. Barroso promised new legislation to fight discrimination and spoke out against proposals to create transit camps for asylum seekers in North Africa - explicitly distancing himself from Prof. Buttiglione's views.

"I have got your message," Mr Barroso told lawmakers in an impassioned plea. "I appeal to your sense of responsibility. I ask you to express a vote of confidence in this college.

"On this basis we can build a stronger Europe," he told the 732-member assembly.

Prof. Barroso vowed to create an EU fundamental rights agency to fight racial and sexual prejudice and to propose new EU-wide legislation outlawing discrimination on grounds of gender or sexual orientation.

He acknowledged the depth of opposition to Prof. Buttiglione, who was rejected as unsuitable by parliament's Civil Liberties Committee after calling homosexuality a sin and saying marriage exists for women to have children and be protected by a man.

Parliament as a whole cannot vote on individual commissioners but must accept or reject Prof. Barroso's entire team.

"Some of you would have preferred a more radical response and a reshuffling of the team. But is this a real option at this stage? Changing portfolios at this stage would cause more political and institutional problems than it would solve," Prof. Barroso said.

Martin Schulz, leader of the 200-strong Socialist group, the second biggest force in the assembly, said Prof. Barroso had not gone far enough to win the fundamental trust of Parliament.

"If it stays this way, it will be very difficult for us to express confidence in your Commission," he said, leaving the door slightly ajar for a compromise while acknowledging that his own group was not monolithic.

Hans-Gert Poettering, leader of the biggest group in the house, the 268-member conservative European People's Party, said that rejecting the 25-member Commission would be seen as a vote against cultural and religious diversity.

It could undermine public support for the EU constitution to be signed by EU leaders on Friday in Rome, making ratification in referendums and national parliaments tougher, he argued.

Graham Watson, leader of the 88-member Liberal Democrats, the pivotal third force in parliament, criticised Prof. Barroso's decision not to shift Prof. Buttiglione but promised his group would study the latest concessions carefully.

He accused Prof. Barroso and EU leaders of failing to take the parliamentary confirmation process seriously and trying to ride roughshod over the assembly's considered opinion.

"The approval process is not a rubber stamp and this parliament should not be treated as one," Mr Watson said.

Some national governments are reported to have been lobbying hard to persuade centre-left and liberal MEPs to break ranks and vote for the Commission to avoid a political crisis.