EU Commission Stumbles at First Hurdle

The sigh of relief which swept through the new Commission at the end of last week when the European Parliament endorsed the choice of the three final commissioners, has been turned into one of frustration.

Plans to get the commission's five-year term underway have been blighted by revelations concerning the French Transport Commissioner, Jacques Barrot. Members of the European Parliament revealed on Monday that Barrot was convicted, and later pardoned, in the late 1990s over the financing of his Social Democratic Center Party.

Barroso, who had been hoping to kick off with issues such as EU economic reform, was left no option but to deal with the sudden controversy surrounding Barrot. He said that like everyone else, he had been kept in the dark over the Frenchman's conviction, but expressed his support for him.

"I support all my commissioners 100 percent," Barroso said in an interview with the Belgian newspaper La Libre Belgique. He added that he was sure Barrot would make an excellent commissioner.

No cover-up

On Monday, Barrot released a letter to the president of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell, explaining that the conviction had been quashed under a wide-ranging amnesty granted by French President Jacques Chirac, which meant there was no need to disclose it.

"I had nothing to cover up and I absolutely did not look to cover up anything from the European Parliament, which I profoundly respect," Barrot wrote. The transport commissioner offered to appear before the parliament again in order to provide "any extra clarification", but said he would pursue his EU duties "in all honesty and perfect transparency".

Under the French amnesty law, the media were forbidden from reporting the conviction after Chirac pardoned Barrot. It only emerged when Britain's anti-EU UK Independence Party aired the case in the European Parliament last week.

Rough beginnings

Speaking in Brussels, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer warned against any further debate on Commission personnel, stating that the time had come for the EU body to start concentrating on the tasks in hand.

The late start came after MEPs rejected Barroso's Italian choice for Justice Commissioner, Rocco Buttiglione. He withdrew his candidature following objections from the assembly to his arch-conservative views on gays and women.

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