July 6, 2004. Copyright, 2004, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Profile of Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, president-elect of the European Commission
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, July 6, Graphic News:  Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, PortugalŐs former prime minister, has been chosen as the leader least likely to rock the European Union boat. But whether the future Commission chief can steer its 25 passengers out of the storm clouds and towards a common destination remains to be seen.

In terms of ideology, Barroso himself has summarised the views that enabled him to offend the fewest EU leaders. ŇI am a reformist, not a revolutionary, a centrist, not a free market fundamentalist,Ó he said earlier this year. No distinctive vision for Europe then, but it would foolish to dismiss his appointment as boiling down merely to what he is not.

While the decision to pluck Barroso from obscurity to take over the biggest job in Europe was undoubtedly a compromise, his career still provides important clues as to why the Portuguese leader eventually proved an acceptable successor to ItalyŐs Romano Prodi while bigger names, such as BritainŐs Chris Patten or BelgiumŐs Guy Verhofstaedt, were ruled out.

Born to a middle class family in Lisbon, Barroso, 48, was a Maoist left-winger as a law student before joining the centre-right Social Democratic Party in 1980. In 1987 he became secretary of state for foreign affairs, where he oversaw talks that led to the historic 1991 peace accords between Angola and Unita rebels. In 1992 he was promoted to foreign minister.

Since becoming prime minister in April 2002, Barroso has implemented unpopular austerity measures to halt a rocketing budget deficit. He has revised labour laws and cut public sector jobs, winning a reputation for a thick skin and persistence that can only help him in Brussels.

His reputation as a tough economic reformer has won him support in particular from Britain, which also shares his approach to transatlantic relations. Portugal backed the U.S.-led campaign in Iraq, hosting the Azores summit in March 2003 at which then Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar and BritainŐs Tony Blair met with President Bush to formulate their strategy in the run-up to the war.

Tellingly, Barroso managed to maintain good relations with Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder despite his pro-war stance, and his ability to communicate well with a variety of factions is seen as a welcome change from Prodi, who was criticised for blundering into needless feuds and causing offence. Barroso speaks fluent English, French and Spanish. Like Blair, he favours strengthening Europe without alienating the United States.

In addition to being good-humoured and diplomatic, Barroso is seen as having none of the excessive confidence or intellectual fierceness that made the CommissionŐs most famous former president, Jacques Delors, a focus of disagreements between member countries. As arbiter of the interests of 25 countries, however, Barroso will not find it easy to heal divisions.

Already, cynics are claiming that his low profile bodes for a weak Commission that will enable big fish such as France and Germany to go it alone. Others say Paris and Berlin could be sidelined with a U.S. ally at the Commission helm. Minnows, including Portugal, hope that he will champion their interests, for example by remaining opposed to capped EU spending.

In any case, BarrosoŐs first task is to repair the image of a Commission battered by corruption scandals and seen as arrogant and remote. And that must surely be in everybodyŐs interest.
/ENDS