The president of the European Commission, Mr José Manuel Barroso, has offered "100 per cent support" to the French commissioner, Mr Jacques Barrot (67), who failed to reveal a conviction for party funding irregularities. Denis Staunton reports from Brussels
In an interview yesterday with The Irish Times and other European newspapers on his first day in office, Mr Barroso said the transport commissioner had given an adequate explanation of the 2000 fraud conviction, which was immediately erased under a French amnesty.
"I support 100 per cent all my commissioners - all my commissioners," Mr Barroso said. "Regarding Mr Barrot, I think the explanations and clarifications he has given are enough."
The commission yesterday made public a six-page letter from Mr Barrot explaining the circumstances surrounding the conviction and his failure to disclose it before joining the Commission.
The leader of the Socialist group in the European Parliament, Mr Martin Schulz, indicated last night that his members were pulling back from a confrontation.
He said if European Parliament lawyers backed Mr Barrot's claim that the amnesty meant his conviction no longer existed, the matter would be closed.
"The letter of explanation has now been sent and it is up to parliament's legal service to evaluate the arguments in the letter," Mr Schulz said. "If the legal service considers that the explanations given in this letter are satisfactory, then as far as the Socialist group is concerned, the affair is over. Mr Barrot has expressed to me his regret that he did not bring up this issue earlier."
Dublin MEP Mr Proinsias De Rossa, who is a member of the Socialist group, said Mr Barrot should be suspended from office until the matter was cleared up. He said his failure to disclose the conviction before he joined the commission raised questions about his political judgment.
"Did he really expect that he could keep this matter secret for the duration of his term of office?" Mr De Rossa asked. "Did he seriously believe that such a conviction, even though covered by a French presidential pardon, was not a material fact of which the European Parliament should have been made aware?"
The Liberal group leader, Mr Graham Watson, has called on Mr Barrot to resign rather than precipitate a confrontation between the commission and the parliament. Mr Watson said he felt sorry for Mr Barroso, whose first day in office was overshadowed by the Barrot affair.
"His commission nearly fell over problems with the Italian nominee, Mr Buttiglione, yet Buttiglione's crime was his opinion," Mr Watson said. "Mr Barrot's crime is real . . .
"If I were in Mr Barrot's position, I would recognise the situation and offer my resignation, thereby preventing further damage to the European Commission as a whole."