MaltaMedia.com

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi is in Brussels Thursday and Friday to attend the European Council meeting in which heads of Government of EU member states are expected to agree on the nomination for the next President of the European Commission.

Speaking at the end of a meeting for leaders of the European People’s Party before the start of the European Council, Prime Minister Gonzi told journalists that the EPP leaders had agreed to support a second mandate as Commission President for Portugese incumbent Jose Manuel Barroso.

Although Barroso is expected to get the support of EU leaders, the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune reported on Thursday that Barroso is facing opposition to his re-election within the European Parliament particularly from the Greens and Socialists despite the lack of a clear challenger for the post.

The European Council meeting is also expected to be dominated by a discussion about a package of guarantees designed to persuade Irish citizens to vote yes to the Lisbon Treaty in a second referendum later this year.

The Irish Times reported on Thursday that Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen is seeking assurances from other EU member states that if the ‘guarantees’ take the form of a protocol, they will ratify the protocol through their parliaments when the next EU treaty is completed probably in the form of an accession treaty.

Economic issues are also expected to have a high profile during the European Council meeting with EU leaders expected to discuss the high budget deficits in a number of EU countries and the creation of a new body to watch over the EU’s macro-economic stability and three agencies to oversee national regulators in the areas of banking, insurance and securities.

During this European Council, the Maltese Government will be lobbying other member states to accept the inclusion of a specific reference in the concluding document of a pilot intra-community voluntary relocation programme for Malta that is intended to ease the immigration burden.

The Czech Presidency of the EU has so far been reluctant to accept a specific reference to this project in the draft Council conclusions despite the support of the European Commission.

Prime Minister Gonzi is accompanied in Brussels by Foreign Minister Tonio Borg and Malta’s permanent representative to the European Union Richard Cachia Caruana.