EU: The man nominated to lead the executive European Commission implicitly rejected pressure from Germany and France yesterday to appoint a powerful "super commissioner" in charge of all economic policy.
Former Portuguese prime minister Mr José Manuel Durão Barroso told the European Parliament in a keynote speech: "I will exercise fully the powers conferred on me by the treaty in the choice of future commissioners, in allocating portfolios before and during my term and in the leadership of the team's work.
"One thing must be clear: there will be no first and second class commissioners in the Commission I will lead," he said.
Paris and Berlin, with initial support from Britain, had called for a vice-president to co-ordinate economic policy and promote the EU's so-called Lisbon agenda for economic reform.
But while London saw the role mainly as pressing for deregulation of labour markets and modernisation of pensions and welfare systems, the French and Germans saw it as promoting European industrial champions as a counterweight to the EU's free-marketeering competition and internal market regulators.
The 732-member parliament will vote today on whether to confirm Mr Barroso for a five-year term from November 1st.
Berlin renewed the call yesterday for such a vice-president and said it expected Mr Barroso to take it seriously. Germany has hinted it would like its nominee for the new EU executive, current Enlargement Commissioner Mr Guenter Verheugen, to get the job.
"Mr Barroso said he didn't want first and second class commissioners.
"Nobody ever demanded that. He didn't say anything about the structure of the Commission," German government spokesman Mr Thomas Steg said.
"We expect him to address the proposal from the three countries.
"There is nothing to withdraw from our proposal, everything else remains to be seen," Mr Steg said.
The Commission's influential secretary-general had prepared options for Mr Barroso to reorganise the enlarged EU executive along more hierarchical lines, with several clusters of sectoral commissioners each supervised by a powerful vice-president.
However, the Financial Times quoted the Portuguese EU ambassador, a close Barroso ally, as saying the incoming Commission chief would keep a firm grip on the top jobs rather than delegating as outgoing President Romano Prodi sought to do.
Mr Barroso also pledged to fight apathy and scepticism in Europe after recent record low voter turnout, saying the EU would be judged on its ability to deliver results in creating prosperity, jobs and security.
"In building our partnership for Europe, we must recognise that the biggest challenge we face is not the Euroscepticism of the few, but the Euro-apathy of the many," he said.
Just 45.5 per cent of nearly 350 million eligible voters bothered to cast ballots in parliament elections in June, the lowest turnout since direct elections for the Strasbourg-based assembly began in 1979.
The debate over ratification of a new EU constitution agreed by the 25 national leaders last month would be crucial, he said, with up to 10 member-states planning referendums.
"To win that debate, we should not have a bureaucratic or technocratic approach. We need instead political leadership and courage," Mr Barroso said.