Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 8 / Trend , E.Ostapenko/
Jose Manuel Barroso's candidature for Chairman of the European Commission is likely to be approved for a second term. But it is difficult to predict how effective it will be, leading European analyst, Antonio Missiroli, believes.
"I think that it would be more difficult for the 27 to agree on another candidate than agree keeping Barroso in office. It is very difficult to predict if Barroso will be more effective President of Commission than he was in the first term," the Head of the European Policy Centre in Brussels, Missiroli, told Trend in a telephone conversation from Brussels.
Politicians very often thrive and blossom in the second mandate, others become worse, Missiroli believes.
The five-year term of the current European Commission expires this fall. The current European Commission President Barroso was nominated by the European Union as the only candidate for the post.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, he is consulting with each of the seven political groups represented in the European Parliament. Barroso expressed his hope that these discussions would lead to a decision to vote on his nomination in the European Parliament on Sept. 16.
The discussions will focus on Barroso's EU development program in the near future. In his 41-page document, the incumbent head of the European Commission promised to intensify efforts in coordinating economic policies and to strengthen efforts to monitor the public financial sector, as well as to lobby for tighter financial regulation and to improve the banking sector.
The leaders of democrats are probably the majority in favour of the reappointment of Barroso, Missiroli said. The social democrats are probably the majority against. But still there is a significant minority that would vote for him, he believes.
"Whatever happens with the consultations tomorrow and the day after tomorrow is probably that these groups that are split will accept the vote and leave a degree of freedom to the members, to the deputies, to the MEPs in the vote in plenary, which would probably lead to confirmation of Barroso on Sept. 16," Missiroli said.
Barroso's immediate reflect is the continuity, the same person remains in charge, he said. May be this is a good thing, because "while in a crisis it could not be that bad to give the place to a well experienced person who already knows the business, and to let him implement the things that were not done for the past 5 years".
Missiroli believes other people were saying that the Commission needs a face of renewal and, of course, having the same person in charge doesn't mean that renewal will happen.
Potentially many people may be president of the European Commission, but procedure is very strict in this respect, the analyst believes.
The European Parliament can only vote on a candidate proposed by the European Council that is the heads of state and government. And so far the only candidate that has been proposed by the EU leaders is Mr. Barroso.
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