PROFILE / Pat Cox: Nobody who has observed the former economist's extraordinary political career would dismiss his chances of upsetting expectations yet again by securing the EU's top post, writes Denis Staunton, European Correspondent
As Pat Cox left Strasbourg this week to loud applause and tributes, the 51-year-old former economist, lecturer, broadcaster and parliamentarian faced the prospect of starting a new career for the fifth time in his working life. If events go his way, he could find himself chosen in six weeks' time as the first Irishman to lead the European Commission.
In his final address as President of the European Parliament on Wednesday, Cox left no doubt about his ambition to succeed Romano Prodi as Commission President.
"Europe has been the cause of my political life. I will continue serving the cause in any way that I can," he said.
The next Commission President will be chosen by the EU's 25 leaders at a summit in Brussels next month and the Taoiseach this week began consultations aimed at finding a candidate acceptable to all. In his role as EU President, Bertie Ahern cannot promote any candidate, particularly one from Ireland, but he has indicated that, if Cox emerges as the favourite, the Government will nominate him for the job.
Cox refused to talk about his future this week but, reflecting on his four careers to date, he suggested that they gave him important attributes in terms of experience.
"[From] the economic part, analysis; the lecturing and broadcasting part, communication; and the political part, networks and the capacity to give leadership," he said.
Such qualities would undoubtedly be valuable in a Commission President but, unlike other candidates, Cox has no executive experience, never having served in government. He acknowledges that this represents a gap in his experience but questions its significance.
"It's the kind of gap Tony Blair suffered from before he became prime minister . . . I've observed Number 10 over the years and I came to the conclusion that, contrary to what his opposition said in advance, it doesn't seem to be a severe handicap," he said.
Cox remains an outsider to succeed Prodi but nobody who has observed his extraordinary political career would dismiss his chances of upsetting expectations yet again.
Born in Dublin and brought up in Limerick, Cox was an economics lecturer in NIHE, now the University of Limerick, when he first entered politics as a Fianna Fáil candidate in the 1979 local elections. He failed to get elected but remained in Fianna Fáil for four years, during which time he got to know the young Bertie Ahern.
"The first time ever that I met the Taoiseach was years ago in the Ógra Fianna Fáil organisation when in a political sense, if not literally, we were both in short pants," he said.
Cox left the party to become a current affairs presenter at RTÉ, where he remained until 1986, when he joined the Progressive Democrats, becoming the party's first general secretary.
Two years later, Cox and his wife Cathy endured a personal tragedy when their youngest daughter Mary was killed in a road accident. Cox, who has six surviving children and a nine-month-old grandson, has spoken about his daughter's death while calling for better road safety rules.
He won a European Parliament seat for Munster in 1989 and, in the same year, came face to face with Ahern again during negotiations to form the first Fianna Fáil-PD government.
He won a Dáil seat in Cork South Central in 1992 and when Des O'Malley resigned as leader of the PDs the following year, Cox sought to succeed him. Following his defeat in the leadership contest he decided that his future lay in Europe. He wanted to defend his European seat, and promised to leave the Dáil if elected.
The PDs had other ideas, however, and selected O'Malley to contest Munster. Cox left the party and won the European seat as an Independent, retaining it at each subsequent election.
In his 15 years as an MEP, Cox has been one of the most energetic and skilful politicians the European Parliament has known, becoming leader of the Liberal group before succeeding Nicole Fontaine as President in 2002.
"You have been exemplary as a member and exemplary as President," said the Green leader, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, on Wednesday.
Cox is almost universally admired in the European Parliament, although some MEPs complain that his confidence can tip over into arrogance and a lack of curiosity about others.
"He is very able but his arrogance can get in the way of his judgment," said one.
Others complain about his long-windedness, which can ruin the effect of his undoubted eloquence and obscure his message.
On becoming President, Cox identified three key challenges for his term in office: facilitating the enlargement of the EU, improving communication between the European Parliament and its citizens, and reforming the institution itself, particularly its notorious system of members' expenses.
As one of the most gifted communicators in Europe, Cox succeeded in raising the parliament's profile, persuading EU leaders to involve him in much of their work at a European level.
"At an interpersonal level, I've got to know them reasonably well and we feel reasonably easy in each other's company. That didn't happen overnight, but you become in some way a familiar figure," he said.
Cox has formed particularly close relationships with politicians in the 10 states that joined the EU last week, travelling widely to spread an optimistic message about their European future.
"The acquis communitaire [30,000 pages of EU law] is a mountain that is as dry as dust and indispensable to joining, but it is not the kind of thing that excites the public imagination. So I've gone and talked about what Europe's values are, the practical benefits you might expect, but in uncomplicated language. It was a way of trying to communicate to a political public, firstly, messages that were pro-European and through the media to a wider public," he said.
Cox was less successful in reforming the European Parliament, although he persuaded a majority to vote for an end to the practice whereby MEPs are paid the full air fare home each week, regardless of the actual cost of the ticket. Cox's proposed reform would also have introduced a uniform salary for MEPs, whose salaries are now linked to those of national parliamentarians in their home country.
The reform failed to win a qualified majority in the Council of Ministers, although Cox claims that the Parliament had done what was asked of it.
"I'm not the author of the part that failed, so it's a failure beyond my own control. I followed the council's script, I delivered a parliamentary majority and the council took me out in the end," he said.
In the race to become Commission President, Cox faces tough competition from the external affairs commissioner, Britain's Chris Patten, and Belgium's prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt, who have both indicated an interest in the job.
Britain fears that a politician from the Benelux countries could be too close to France and Germany, while French and German officials say that Britain cannot lay claim to the top job while it remains outside the euro zone.
Cox has strong support in the new member-states, particularly in Hungary and Poland, where he played a role in referendums to win support for entry into the EU. Other candidates could yet emerge, however, and diplomats believe that if Germany, France and Britain unite around a single candidate, the race will be over.
If Cox fails to become Commission President, the Government could nominate him as Ireland's next commissioner, but sources suggest that such a move is unlikely.
Beyond Brussels, Cox could take up a lucrative career in business or even return to domestic politics in Ireland.