The King is dead...long live Jose Manuel
- 2 Jan 06, 09:34 AM
There'll be hearty laughter in the Barroso household today and a few raised eyebrows in tomorrow's papers after the verdict of Today programme listeners that José Manuel Barroso runs Britain.
Lest you forgot or never knew, Senor Barroso is the President of the European Commission. He beat Messrs Blair, Brown, Murdoch and even the boys behind Google to the title.
The electorate is, of course, never wrong. 'Today' listeners may be using this poll to send the message that Europe does more than they would like.
Is that, though, the result of a master plan by the dastardly Senor Barroso? He would point out that given that he does not even get to choose the members of his own Commission - a body smaller than some county councils which can only propose laws and not actually pass them - this is an implausible idea.
So can you dismiss the verdict of Today programme listeners? Not that fast. The problem of Europe is that voters - not just on Today but in electorates across the continent - cannot easily identify a name to blame for political developments they dislike.
Take just one row on the Euro map at the moment. Euro-sceptics are warning that the Commission could soon have criminal powers - powers they believe are a defining characteristic of the government of a nation state and, therefore, should never be given to the EU. This follows a European Court of Justice ruling that "Community legislature may take measures relating to the criminal law of Member States when that is necessary for the achievement of an important Community objective".
The ruling was about EU environmental protection regulations - such as those controlling the cleanliness of beaches. If you're concerned by this, who should you blame? The Court, the Commission, the governments who agreed to the rules of the EU and would have to agree to any extension of EU law? What about Jose Manuel Barroso? Why him? You can't even vote for him - except, that is, in the Today programme poll.
P.S.
Happy New Year, by the way and forgive my long Christmas break. I needed it after a frantic 2005 and to prepare for a 2006 which, if anything, could be even more dramatic.
