European Parliament eyes September vote on Barroso at commission

(BRUSSELS) - The European parliament looks set to vote in September on the candidacy of Jose Manuel Barroso for a second term as head of the EU's executive arm, an assembly official said Tuesday.

"There is a converging view between the three big groups (in parliament) that the vote could take place during the session in September," said the official, from the assembly's biggest bloc, the European People's Party.

The conservative former Portuguese premier, whose five-year term as European Commission president ends at the end of October, is the only publicly declared candidate for what is currently the 27-nation bloc's most high-profile post.

The candidacy of Barroso, 53, has been endorsed by all EU leaders but he has not received their official green light, which would legally oblige the assembly to vote.

Barroso has been criticised by some for his commission's slow reaction to the financial crisis last year and has natural political enemies outside of his centre-right grouping, with the Greens opposing him openly.

He is keen to receive not just a majority in the parliament but an absolute majority, as will be required if the EU's Lisbon Treaty of reforms comes into force by next year as planned.

The European Commission is responsible for drawing up legislation that effects the daily lives of almost half a billion Europeans, as well as enforcing the measures already in place.

Its president -- who like the commissioners is appointed rather than elected -- has significant leverage to influence legislative priorities. The institution will have a budget of 138 billion euros in 2010.