Brussels diary

The commission president makes the mistake of following my advice. And the ups and downs of business in a Strasbourg brothel
December 18, 2004

Don't blame me

It is gratifying to see that José Manuel Durão Barroso, the president-designate of the European commission, follows the strategic advice of this column so closely. Attentive readers may recall that last month, Manneken Pis noted that a bit of a storm seemed to be brewing in the European parliament over some anti-gay comments made by Rocco Buttiglione, who had been nominated as the new commissioner for justice and home affairs. We advised Barroso to stand firm, on the grounds that the Italian government and the Catholic church would prove more important to his future than "a few jumped-up parliamentarians." Flatteringly, Barroso followed this advice to the letter. Unfortunately, it proved to be a disastrous strategy. Unable to persuade the parliament to accept his new commission, Barroso was forced into a humiliating climbdown and will now have to restructure his whole commission and resubmit it for parliamentary approval. The new commission may not now be in business until Christmas.

How many scalps to the parliament?

Barroso himself seemed very slow to realise the trouble he was in. Just 24 hours before the scheduled vote in the European parliament, he met some of his closest advisers and upbraided them for looking so gloomy. It was all going to be fine, he assured them. Then - as it became clear that he simply did not have the votes - he began to cast around desperately for advice. Pat Cox, the recently retired president of the European parliament, was summoned to Barroso's office, where the hapless Portuguese asked him what he should do. Cox's advice was characteristically profane and to the point: "You've got to fuck Buttiglione before he fucks you." Barroso blenched slightly at this fighting talk and then said plaintively, "I can't, Pöttering won't let me." So who is this Pöttering who holds the commission president (designate) in his thrall? Hans-Gert Pöttering is a German Christian Democrat and the leader of the European People's party, the centre-right grouping in the parliament. It was his insistence back in June that the choice of commission president should reflect the European parliamentary election results - in which the EPP emerged as the largest single bloc - which had indirectly ensured Barroso got the job. All the really strong candidates were on the centre-left, and Barroso emerged, almost by default, as the sole viable EPP-approved candidate. He evidently feels this debt acutely, for the most plausible story doing the rounds in Strasbourg after the debacle of the commission's rejection was that Barroso was only too ready to throw Rocco overboard - and that Rocco was even ready to jump - but that Pöttering insisted that the EPP's honour was at stake. His party was determined that a fellow right-winger - Buttiglione - would not be victimised by the left. Unfortunately, when the Liberals moved into the anti-commission camp, Pöttering proved unable to deliver a parliamentary majority. Both he and Barroso are badly damaged as a result. Pöttering may even lose his job as the EPP leader. And Graeme Watson, the leader of the Liberal grouping, is also in danger. Watson wanted the Liberals to vote for the commission, arguing that it would be a mistake for the parliament to humble the commission. But he was overruled by his own group and he too may now face a leadership challenge. Buttiglione, Pöttering, Watson - and maybe even Barroso - not a bad set of scalps for a single Strasbourg session.

The brothels of Strasbourg

The atmosphere of general hysteria in Strasbourg was exaggerated by the fact that the place has a holiday-camp atmosphere when the parliament is in town. All the MEPs, lobbyists and journalists bitch about the fact that every fourth week they have to make the trek from Brussels - and there can be no doubt that it is a colossal waste of time and money. But once in Strasbourg, the professional Europeans find themselves curiously liberated - they have no families to go home to, no normal routine to stick to. The result is that large numbers of the EU's travelling circus decide to continue political debate long into the night in the stimulating atmosphere of the city's many fine bars and restaurants. The Tories were sufficiently concerned about the activities of some of their younger MEPs that an edict was issued forbidding them from dancing on the bar at Les Aviateurs - a particularly popular late-night watering hole and pick-up joint. Apparently it was feared that photographs of any such activity might not convey the right impression of puritanical Eurosceptic disapproval of the EU gravy train.

As for the city of Strasbourg itself, its economy seems increasingly dependent on the very few days when the parliamentarians are in town. During "Strasbourg weeks," it is virtually impossible to find a hotel room - and the city's service economy is at full stretch. One colleague of your diarist, who asked a taxi driver to find him a bar that was still open at an hour when even Les Aviateurs had shut its doors, found himself spirited to a local brothel. The girls there informed him that for three weeks out of four, their place of employment was almost totally dead. But they make enough money in Strasbourg weeks to keep them going for the rest of the month. Just the sort of heart-warming story to renew one's faith in the European ideal.