EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Parliament is set for new political powers allowing it to seek the resignation of an individual European Commissioner, following a working relations agreement sealed earlier this week by senior MEPs and commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso. Due to be voted on 9 February, the draft power-sharing deal suggests that Mr Barroso must "seriously consider" whether to ask an individual commissioner to step down if parliament withdraws its confidence. If he chooses not to let the commissioner go he then has to explain his reasoning before MEPs. Under EU treaty rules, MEPs can censure the commission as a whole but not individual members. This new inter-institutional arrangement, while not legally binding, will further increase the political clout of the EU assembly, a trend that has been growing steadily in recent years.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Parliament is set for new political powers allowing it to seek the resignation of an individual European Commissioner, following a working relations agreement sealed earlier this week by senior MEPs and commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.
Due to be voted on 9 February, the draft power-sharing deal suggests that Mr Barroso must "seriously consider" whether to ask an individual commissioner to step down if parliament withdraws its confidence. If he chooses not to let the commissioner go he then has to explain his reasoning before MEPs.
Under EU treaty rules, MEPs can censure the commission as a whole but not individual members. This new inter-institutional arrangement, while not legally binding, will further increase the political clout of the EU assembly, a trend that has been growing steadily in recent years.
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso has agreed to new terms in the European Parliament's relations with the EU executive, giving the assembly more power to scrutinise laws and raise its profile vis-à-vis member states. Leading members of the European Parliament have agreed on the assembly's future relations with the Commission under the EU's new Lisbon Treaty, which confer new powers to the Strasbourg assembly. The new 'Framework Agreement', agreed last Wednesday (27 January), will govern relations between the Parliament and the Commission for the 2010-2015 period. It will be submitted to a vote on 9 February, just ahead of a poll on the incoming Barroso II team.
Leading members of the European Parliament have agreed on the assembly's future relations with the Commission under the EU's new Lisbon Treaty, which confer new powers to the Strasbourg assembly.
The new 'Framework Agreement', agreed last Wednesday (27 January), will govern relations between the Parliament and the Commission for the 2010-2015 period.
It will be submitted to a vote on 9 February, just ahead of a poll on the incoming Barroso II team.
