Portugal’s Prime Minister, António Costa, has entered the shark-infested waters of EU diplomacy by demanding a written response from the Commission President about the ‘Barroso privileges’ row.
The PM said today that he has asked for clarification from the President of the European Commission on the treatment that the EU executive decided to give to their former-President, José Manuel Barroso.
Costa’s demand is in response to the Commission decision to treat Barroso as just another lobbyist, should his new job at Goldman Sachs involve his approaching former EU colleagues to carry out his ‘Brexit advice’ work.
The withdrawal of the expected ‘red carpet treatment’ for Barroso is as much an inconvenience as an embarrassment as his new employer would have expected Barroso to be able to operate at a high level within the EU’s corridors.
Costa said today, "I asked the President of the Commission for clarification on the decision reached on Dr. Barroso compared to other former members of the Commission in similar situations, since it is necessary to ensure that there is no discriminatory treatment of anyone, regardless of the assessment we make of Dr. Barroso.”
Costa also noted that by downgrading Barroso to the status of ‘lobbyist’, Goldman Sachs itself is being discriminated against, although the US financial giant, the Great Vampire Squid of legend, has not made this claim.
Stressing that "it is necessary to ensure and guarantee that no Portuguese is the subject of any kind of discriminatory attitude," the Prime Minister said that Juncker, as the President of the European Commission, was to send him a written response.
"I await the written explanation of the President Juncker. I know what he told me and now is to responding in writing and I await his answer," added the ever-smiling Portuguese prime minister, unaware of the hornets’ nest he is poking.
Asked about whether the controversy surrounding José Manuel Barroso’s employment by Goldman Sachs might affect the candidacy of António Guterres to the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Costa rejected such "confusion", stating that "it’s not worth mixing one thing with the other" because "these are completely different things."
Barroso argued in a letter sent this week to Jean-Claude Juncker, that "these allegations are unfounded and are absolutely unfair. They are discriminatory against me and against Goldman Sachs," an assertion that Costa supports up at his own risk.
Socialist Pary leader and current Prime Minister António Costa's backing of the former Social Democrat Prime Minister, José Manuel Barroso is curious as they are not from the same political background and their Portuguese premierships are 11 years apart.
