EU's Barroso faces test of guile over nominee

José Manuel Barroso will need all his vaunted political guile to surmount the first crisis of his European Commission presidency when he meets Parliament leaders today.

Mr Barroso has to make sufficient concessions to critics of controversial Italian Rocco Buttiglione and other nominees to ensure his incoming EU executive wins a broad confidence vote next week, without emasculating his own authority.

EU lawmakers narrowly rejected Buttiglione last week as the EU's new justice and security chief over his conservative Roman Catholic views on homosexuality and marriage, and criticised several other designated commissioners.

Commission insiders say Mr Barroso is unlikely to bow to pressure to reshuffle his team but is weighing whether to strip Prof. Buttiglione of responsibility for non-discrimination and civil liberties and give personal guarantees on future EU policy.

"I am confident that my Commission would get the approval of parliament," Mr Barroso told reporters at a joint news conference with Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka yesterday.

To avoid singling out Prof. Buttiglione, the former Portuguese Prime Minister is also set to deliver assurances in the cases of several other nominees who aroused parliamentary concern, such as designated energy chief Laszlo Kovacs of Hungary.

"It's very tricky. He will have to find the right balance between respecting parliament and taking its views into consideration, and at the same time building a strong and independent Commission," one Commission insider said.

The 200-member Socialist group, the second largest force in Parliament, has threatened to vote against the entire team unless Mr Barroso switches Prof. Buttiglione's portfolio.

But Socialist floor leader Martin Schulz hinted after meeting Mr Barroso on Tuesday he could accept something less, saying he believed the incoming EU chief had got Parliament's message and he was not closed to a compromise.

The standoff over Prof. Buttiglione has taken the EU into uncharted constitutional territory, since parliament does not have the power to veto individual commissioners but has to approve the whole executive in a vote next Wednesday.

If Mr Barroso calibrates his concessions right, dozens of Socialists could vote positively or abstain, while most of the 87 liberals could back a team that includes an unprecedented eight liberals, several in powerful economic posts.

The 268-strong conservative European People's Party solidly backs him and Prof. Buttiglione. The Greens and Communists will vote against the Commission anyway.

If Mr Barroso fails to satisfy the critics, he risks winning only a narrow, right-wing majority that could handicap his executive for five years.

If he pushes Prof. Buttiglione too far, the devout Roman Catholic, who has depicted himself as victim of a hate campaign and a secular "Inquisition", could quit, opening a crisis with Rome.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who nominated his European affairs minister, might refuse to replace him.

Among the concessions demanded by parliamentary critics is legislation to guarantee EU media pluralism - a veiled attack on Mr Berlusconi's dominance of Italian television.

Commission insiders say Mr Barroso has been exasperated by Prof. Buttiglione's failure to keep quiet after the initial furore. His subsequent comments have fanned the controversy.

Most EU leaders seem keen to resolve the crisis without weakening the incoming Commission chief, diplomats say.

While Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson publicly accused Prof. Buttiglione of a "sensational lack of judgment" and questioned his suitability for the sensitive post, a German official said Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who leads Europe's biggest power, was not pressing for the Italian's ouster.