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European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso announced his support to Denmark over the cartoons ridiculing Prophet Mohammed and outraging Muslims. The president, who declared in a statement to Jyllands-Posten daily, the paper responsible for first publishing the cartoons, said freedom of speech is one of the pillars of Europe. Nothing can vindicate violence, he said. "We should say to those who condemn the cartoons that freedom of speech is not a matter for discussion. This is a basic value of European society."

Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, has urged EU leaders to "turn a crisis into an opportunity".He said it was now up to them to pull Europe together, avoid the "blame game" and address the conflicting issues which led to this week's emphatic rejection of the constitutional treaty by French and Dutch voters. Mr Barroso was speaking in Messina, Sicily, on the 50th anniversary of the six-nation conference there which launched the common market, now the European Union. The Commission president took full advantage of the irony of the timing, pointing out that the circumstances then were...

THE Conservative Party suspended an MEP yesterday after he supported the UK Independence Party in a censure motion against José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission. The UKIP had succeeded in overcoming overwhelming opposition from the Brussels political establishment to make Senhor Barroso defend himself against sleaze allegations days before European referendums in France and the Netherlands. In an extraordinary piece of political drama, Nigel Farage, the UKIP leader in the European Parliament, faced booing in the chamber and was denounced as a demagogue and accused of trying to undermine the Commission’s reputation before the referendums. Roger Helmer,...

Message of hope, but reality of restrictions from the EU From Poland A.M. Jose Manuel Barroso, the head of the European Commission, who will meet with Prime Minister Marek Belka in Warsaw today, is bringing with him a message to Poles, "Do not be afraid of the EU, treat it fairly!" Meanwhile, earlier on Thursday Denmark announced that it would introduce restrictions on employing labor from the EU new member states. The Danish government bowed to pressure from the trade unions and decided to limit employment under the pretext of protecting the country from "Social dumping". Brussels does not want...

For the first time a poll has shown that a majority of French people are likely to vote against the European Constitution. The new poll, conducted this week by the CSA Institute, has found that 51 per cent of those questioned are planning to vote against the Constitution and 49 per cent will vote ‘yes’, reports today's Le Parisien. According to this poll, as much as 53 per cent of French voters are likely to abstain during the referendum, taking place on 29 May. "If the ‘no’ prevails, France will be in for a political cataclysm", Jacques Delors, the former...

BRUSSELS It was as if a visitor to the office of the president of the European Commission was watching caution's cloak descend in slo-mo over José Manuel Barroso's shoulders, and eurospeak, like a Denver boot, clamp tightly onto his tongue. A yellow go-slow light seemed to bathe the room. A gentle, nonconfrontational question had been soft-tossed in his direction - how would the European Union's top guy define himself for George W. Bush, who is his guest at dinner tonight? - and Barroso came back with a belt-and-suspenders answer: "As a committed European who wants to work in a loyal...

BRUSSELS, Belgium - European governments should put divisions over Iraq behind them and join in helping the United States restore order there, the European Union's incoming chief executive said in an interview published Friday. "Some people in Europe may think that it is good that things are going badly for the U.S." in Iraq, European Commission President-designate Jose Manuel Barroso said in the interview with five European newspapers. "I really think that is an irrational and a bad policy." As Portugal's prime minister, Barroso supported the U.S.-led invasion, hosting a prewar summit with the leaders of the United States, Britain...

But the new EU commissioners will have to combat the army of regualtion freaksTHE KING lies there like a beached whale, but he is not yet dead, nor will he die for another ten dreary weeks. His ministers are still formally in office, lingering until November 1 like ghosts, in a machine that is barely ticking over. Yet not only has Romano Prodi’s successor as President of the European Commission been crowned; he is already shaping the character of his reign. Tomorrow, rudely interrupting the deep slumbers of Brussels in August, José Manuel Durão Barroso will hold an “informal” first...

... As Jose Manuel Barroso read the names of the Commissioners he had chosen for the key portfolios, it became clear that the center of gravity has shifted. France and Germany are no longer calling the shots. Almost none of the duo's central demands were met while all important economic positions went to avowed free-marketers. It all began when 10 new members, mostly from the former Communist East, joined the EU in May. In contrast to Paris and Berlin, the newcomers pursue largely free-market policies and support the U.S. war in Iraq. Heralding that tectonic shift in the balance of...

Barroso has assigned responsibilities for the next five years Saturday August 14, 2004 The Guardian Independent Editorial, August 13 "[Jose Manuel Barroso, the incoming president of the European commission] unveiled the portfolios for the 24 men and women who will from November 1 steer the EU over the coming five years ... The biggest surprise was that Mr Barroso gave charge of competition and the internal market to the Netherlands and Ireland respectively. Both are areas in which the French and Germans have repeatedly clashed with the outgoing commission in pursuit of their own narrow national interests. This was Mr...

minister who has been nominated as president of the European Commission, on Tuesday criticised the US for its occasional "arrogance" and sought to distance himself from some of his recent domestic policies by underlining his social and environmental credentials. Questioned on Portugal's involvement in the US-led war coalition in Iraq, on the first day of hearings before the European parliament, Mr Barroso said that, while he was a long-standing admirer of the US, he also hated what he described as American "arrogance" and "unilateralism". He added: "I think there are magnificent things that exist in the US as well as...

José Manuel Barroso, the outgoing Portuguese prime minister who has been nominated as president of the European Commission, on Tuesday criticised the US for its occasional "arrogance" and sought to distance himself from some of his recent domestic policies by underlining his social and environmental credentials. Questioned on Portugal's involvement in the US-led war coalition in Iraq, on the first day of hearings before the European parliament, Mr Barroso said that, while he was a long-standing admirer of the US, he also hated what he described as American "arrogance" and "unilateralism". He added: "I think there are magnificent things that...

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The selection of Jos?anuel Dur?Barroso as Commission President has had mixed reviews among the parliament groups which will have to approve him for the post. After his nomination by EU leaders last Tuesday, Mr Barroso still needs a majority of the 732 deputies in the European Parliament to back his candidature at a meeting in Strasbourg later this month. Although the Portuguese can count on the support of the centre-right EPP group, with 279 seats, the next two largest groups, the Socialists (199 members) and the Liberals - likely to reach 80 MEPs, have not yet...

Paris exacts a price as EU chief is named By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels (Filed: 30/06/2004) Portugal's free-market prime minister was named as the next president of the European Commission last night, but only after France and Germany insisted on control of economic policy in return for their support. José Manuel Durão Barroso, a Thatcherite reformer and supporter of the Iraq war, will take over from Romano Prodi in November, assuming that he is confirmed by Euro-MPs later this month. At a special summit of European Union leaders, Javier Solana of Spain was re-appointed to run the foreign policy machinery,...

Blair's Man to Take over European Commission By Geoff Meade, Europe editor, PA News in Brussels The credentials of the compromise candidate for President of the European Commission have been questioned just hours after his name was confirmed by Irish premier Bertie Ahern. The nomination of Portuguese prime minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso has won a wide consensus in EU capitals and will be put forward formally at a mini-summit in Brussels tomorrow night. The move should end weeks of wrangling – including a bitter clash between Tony Blair and French President Jacques Chirac – over who should replace Romano...

Britain and the other "new Europe" states have scored a victory over the old Franco-German alliance with the likely appointment of Portugal's prime minister as the head of the European Commission. Paris and Berlin indicated yesterday that they were willing to lift their veto of Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, a free-market reformer with close ties to the United States, ending weeks of rancorous disputes. Jose Manuel Durao Barroso Bertie Ahern, the Irish leader and current holder of the European Union presidency, said the no-nonsense lawyer from Lisbon had broad backing from the 25 member states as they prepare to gather...

Portuguese Prime Minister Durao Barroso may become the new president of the European Commission after Irish PM Ahern confirmed his nomination Sunday. German Chancellor Schröder has also signaled approval. The long search for a successor to Romano Prodi may well be over. On Sunday, Irish Prime Minister and president of the rotating EU presidency, Bertie Ahern said on Sky TV that he intends to nominate José Manuel Durao Barroso to become president of the European Commission. "I am very pleased to be able to confirm that there is overwhelming support for the appointment of Portuguese Prime Minister Barroso as president...

It is no easy thing to take on domestic and international opinion simultaneously, and Tony Blair, as many have remarked, is behaving with great courage. Yet this is even more true of the other two European participants in the Azores war summit: Spain's Jose Maria Aznar, and Portugal's Jose Manuel Durao Barroso. The two Iberians are taking huge risks. Unlike Mr Blair, who is able to rely on the sincere support of the Opposition, they have to face socialist parties desperate to wring every drop of electoral advantage they can from the war. Nor are their publics accustomed, as the...