EU leaders are meeting for key talks in Brussels to discuss the banking industry and the troubled Lisbon Treaty. Leaders are also expected to back a second term for Jose Manuel Barroso as European Commision chief. Delegates at the European Union summit are slated to determine who will act as the 27-member bloc's chief executive for the next five years. Portuguese incumbent conservative Jose Manuel Barroso appears to be the only contender for the post, and he's already received conditional support from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The conservative ex-Portuguese PM is likely to get the bloc's political blessing for another five years at the helm of the EU executive, diplomats said, with the overriding sentiment being that stability is key during the economic crisis and institutional change. The Commission helps draw up European law and will control an operating budget of 138 billion euros ($192 billion) next year.
Delegates at the European Union summit are slated to determine who will act as the 27-member bloc's chief executive for the next five years. Portuguese incumbent conservative Jose Manuel Barroso appears to be the only contender for the post, and he's already received conditional support from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The conservative ex-Portuguese PM is likely to get the bloc's political blessing for another five years at the helm of the EU executive, diplomats said, with the overriding sentiment being that stability is key during the economic crisis and institutional change.
The Commission helps draw up European law and will control an operating budget of 138 billion euros ($192 billion) next year.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU leaders will gather in Brussels on Thursday and Friday for a summit at which they hope to pave the way for Irish voters to say yes to the bloc's new set of institutional rules as well as nominate the next president of the European Commission. The two issues have been occupying the political and legal minds in Brussels for the last month as they both concern the future workings of the bloc. Ireland's Lisbon guarantees and the nomination of the commission president are set to dominate discussions The leaders are expected to sign off a series of guarantees - on tax, so-called ethical issues and neutrality - as part of an overall package designed to persuade Irish citizens to vote yes to the Lisbon Treaty in a second referendum, expected late September or early October. While diplomats say the texts themselves are - after weeks of negotiations and fine-tuning - unlikely to be controversial, their legal format remains an open and controversial question.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU leaders will gather in Brussels on Thursday and Friday for a summit at which they hope to pave the way for Irish voters to say yes to the bloc's new set of institutional rules as well as nominate the next president of the European Commission.
The two issues have been occupying the political and legal minds in Brussels for the last month as they both concern the future workings of the bloc.
Ireland's Lisbon guarantees and the nomination of the commission president are set to dominate discussions
The leaders are expected to sign off a series of guarantees - on tax, so-called ethical issues and neutrality - as part of an overall package designed to persuade Irish citizens to vote yes to the Lisbon Treaty in a second referendum, expected late September or early October.
While diplomats say the texts themselves are - after weeks of negotiations and fine-tuning - unlikely to be controversial, their legal format remains an open and controversial question.
BRUSSELS -- There is just one credible candidate for the post of president of the European Commission: José Manuel Barroso, the former prime minister of Portugal who holds the position now and wants a second term.And while no one seriously doubts that he will get it eventually, Mr. Barroso is being made to sweat for his job. A dinner of European leaders in Brussels on Thursday has been transformed into a glorified job interview in which Mr. Barroso will have to make his pitch. If that goes well, he will do the same thing all over again in the next few weeks, in front of bigwigs at the European Parliament. And then follows at least one and possibly two confirmation votes among all the European deputies.
And while no one seriously doubts that he will get it eventually, Mr. Barroso is being made to sweat for his job.
A dinner of European leaders in Brussels on Thursday has been transformed into a glorified job interview in which Mr. Barroso will have to make his pitch.
If that goes well, he will do the same thing all over again in the next few weeks, in front of bigwigs at the European Parliament. And then follows at least one and possibly two confirmation votes among all the European deputies.
And while no one seriously doubts that he will get it eventually
It's that common wisdom that needs to be breached. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
EUOBSERVER/BRUSSELS - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday (18 June) refused to withdraw his own candidate for the European Parliament's presidency, Mario Mauro, although Polish ex-premier Jerzy Buzek is believed to have broader support not only within the centre-right, but also with the opposition. Silvio Berlusconi believes his candidate is the best because he is a "church-going Catholic" Speaking to journalists after a meeting of centre-right leaders, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that there will be a vote in the European People's Party on 7 July, as his bilateral discussion with the Italian premier failed to trigger a consensus on a single candidate for the EU legislature's presidency. Mr Berlusconi's tough stance however could be just tough bargaining for a better portfolio in the next EU commission or maybe the presidency of an institution like the European Central Bank, as Italy has not had a prominent position in any EU institution in recent times, except for the commission presidency led by Romano Prodi.
EUOBSERVER/BRUSSELS - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday (18 June) refused to withdraw his own candidate for the European Parliament's presidency, Mario Mauro, although Polish ex-premier Jerzy Buzek is believed to have broader support not only within the centre-right, but also with the opposition.
Silvio Berlusconi believes his candidate is the best because he is a "church-going Catholic"
Speaking to journalists after a meeting of centre-right leaders, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that there will be a vote in the European People's Party on 7 July, as his bilateral discussion with the Italian premier failed to trigger a consensus on a single candidate for the EU legislature's presidency.
Mr Berlusconi's tough stance however could be just tough bargaining for a better portfolio in the next EU commission or maybe the presidency of an institution like the European Central Bank, as Italy has not had a prominent position in any EU institution in recent times, except for the commission presidency led by Romano Prodi.
And a starry-eyed sycophant.
Italy has not had a prominent position in any EU institution in recent times, except for the commission presidency led by Romano Prodi.
After 15 years of berlusconismo there isn't a qualified person left. Tajani? A dipshit boy who carried the glue bucket in Parioli to paper walls with Monarchist dazebaos. Couldn't even hold a pencil. The most exalting moment in his life was when Berlusconi knighted him in some sort of ritual of theirs.
Marcello Dell'Utri? Bloated mafia boss who likes to think he's got some culture because he's got some false Mussolini diaries and the original edition of Pinocchio. Taught soccer in an all-boys' Opus Dei school. But then, why not? The mafia produces 8 to 10% of the GNP. It's underrepresented in Europe. Dell'Utri as head of Eurojust. Right on.
Berlusconi? Hell, yes, take him away, Europe. He'll lighten up the drudgy corridors of Strasbourg. As Chirac remarked (article in l'Espresso), He calls you aside to look at starlet mags to tell you how many of them he's laid. The guy has seen more ass than a toilet seat.
(He actually referred to a bidet but Tom Waits comes over better in English.)
He calls you aside to look at starlet mags to tell you how many of them he's laid. The guy has seen more ass than a toilet seat.
Chirac said that?!? LOL LOL
In remarks to a fellow guest, cited by l'Express magazine, Mr Chirac allegedly said he had been unsettled by the "rather strange guy". While showing him the bathroom, Mr Berlusconi pointed to the bidet, and is reported to have exclaimed: "You have no idea how many pairs of buttocks that bidet has welcomed."But even he was unsettled by the numerous magazines featuring naked women that were said to have been strewn around the villa. "I leafed through one; it was rather unseemly," Mr Chirac reportedly said."And then I asked him why he left all these magazines lying around." Pointing to the pictures, Mr Berlusconi's alleged response, which he rammed home by miming the action, was: "I've had this one here; that one too..."
While showing him the bathroom, Mr Berlusconi pointed to the bidet, and is reported to have exclaimed: "You have no idea how many pairs of buttocks that bidet has welcomed."
But even he was unsettled by the numerous magazines featuring naked women that were said to have been strewn around the villa. "I leafed through one; it was rather unseemly," Mr Chirac reportedly said.
"And then I asked him why he left all these magazines lying around." Pointing to the pictures, Mr Berlusconi's alleged response, which he rammed home by miming the action, was: "I've had this one here; that one too..."
Though not in the Burlesquoni manner.
Chirac liked to get away to mix with conservative peasant stock types with whom he would eat traditional plates based on lesser known animal parts.
given that Chirac was not really 'shy' on this issue, it must have taken quite a stud to impress him... In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
The more I know, the more I wish I didn't know anything.
Yes, Socrates, himself, is particularly missed, A lovely little thinker, But a bugger when he's pissed.
I'll go with that. keep to the Fen Causeway
you have just described the bone-deep weariness of many italians, contemplating the present clusterfuck. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
EU talks on the Lisbon Treaty have been marred by a rift over demands made by the Republic of Ireland - which rejected the treaty in a 2008 vote.Irish PM Brian Cowen wants a protocol put into the EU's founding treaty to safeguard Ireland's sovereignty over its military, tax and abortion laws. Some EU countries fear reopening the debate may encourage treaty opponents. The EU leaders did agree in principle to a new framework of rules to oversee the financial sector. And they also gave unanimous backing to a motion nominating Jose Manuel Barroso for a second term as president of the European Commission.
EU talks on the Lisbon Treaty have been marred by a rift over demands made by the Republic of Ireland - which rejected the treaty in a 2008 vote.
Irish PM Brian Cowen wants a protocol put into the EU's founding treaty to safeguard Ireland's sovereignty over its military, tax and abortion laws.
Some EU countries fear reopening the debate may encourage treaty opponents.
The EU leaders did agree in principle to a new framework of rules to oversee the financial sector.
And they also gave unanimous backing to a motion nominating Jose Manuel Barroso for a second term as president of the European Commission.
UNANIMOOUS BACKING FOR BARROSO Barroso, a former Portuguese prime minister, set out his plans to the EU leaders over dinner. "We want to have a strong president, a strong partner who communicates well," Fischer [Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer, whose country holds the EU's collective presidency] said. "I am very glad that Jose Manuel Barroso received unanimous support." Barroso, 53, still needs the European Parliament's approval next month and a more formal endorsement by the EU leaders. But his centre-right allies are the biggest force in the assembly and he is expected to win enough votes to be reappointed. A record-low turnout in an election to the parliament this month showed widespread discontent with the EU's handling of the economic crisis under Barroso, but he represents continuity in fighting problems such as soaring unemployment. Barroso has said he wants to lead Europe out of crisis, rebuild the EU's financial and supervisory system, protect jobs, combat climate change and help secure Irish voters' approval of the Lisbon treaty streamlining EU decision making. "Our citizens want to see action," he told reporters.
UNANIMOOUS BACKING FOR BARROSO
Barroso, a former Portuguese prime minister, set out his plans to the EU leaders over dinner.
"We want to have a strong president, a strong partner who communicates well," Fischer [Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer, whose country holds the EU's collective presidency] said. "I am very glad that Jose Manuel Barroso received unanimous support."
Barroso, 53, still needs the European Parliament's approval next month and a more formal endorsement by the EU leaders. But his centre-right allies are the biggest force in the assembly and he is expected to win enough votes to be reappointed.
A record-low turnout in an election to the parliament this month showed widespread discontent with the EU's handling of the economic crisis under Barroso, but he represents continuity in fighting problems such as soaring unemployment.
Barroso has said he wants to lead Europe out of crisis, rebuild the EU's financial and supervisory system, protect jobs, combat climate change and help secure Irish voters' approval of the Lisbon treaty streamlining EU decision making.
"Our citizens want to see action," he told reporters.
