Barroso May Change Commission Team

The incoming president of the European commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, today hinted that he would make "several changes" to his team of 24 commissioner-designates - although warned that simply removing controversial nominee Rocco Buttiglione may create a "domino effect".

Speaking on the BBC the day after he was forced to climb down and postpone a vote on his new commission, under new powers by which the European parliament has a veto on accepting the full slate of candidates, Mr Barroso said he would now consult parliamentary and EU leaders on the way forward.

But in his most explicit comments on the stalemate so far, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "There may be several changes - that's a possibility."

The deadlock - forcing Romano Prodi to continue as caretaker commission president for at least the next few weeks - has overshadowed the signing of the new EU constitution in Rome tomorrow. There, the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is sure to be under behind-the-scenes pressure from other EU leaders to drop his candidate, Mr Buttiglione, for someone less controversial.

Mr Buttiglione, who is the commissioner-designate for home affairs including civil liberties, has called homosexuality a "sin" and single mothers "not very good people".

Today Mr Barroso insisted the problem was not just one of a particular portfolio for Mr Buttiglione. He said: "We have here different political families, not only one.

"It simply could not have been a solution to move one member of the commission - that could have been accepted by some groups in parliament, not others.

"It was not an option ... if I changed a single commissioner it would have a domino effect, and would be very bad for the commission and EU as a whole."

Mr Barroso said he wanted to resolve the commission's problem as soon as possible, but gave no date. The 24 commissioners had been due to begin work on November 1.

He denied suggestions that he had been weakened by the debacle. "All the leaders of the relevant political families said it was the right decision, they congratulated me."

Mr Barroso stopped short of criticising the new voting system, brought in under the Treaty of Nice, which allows MEPs a say on the commission - but only by approving or vetoing the entire team, not individual commissioners.

"I understand there is a problem. It's a very complex system, I have to live with it," he said.

Although the centre-right groupings of MEPs in Strasbourg have generally been content to allow Mr Buttiglione to proceed, a reshuffle could cause them to raise their own objections to other commissioners, as the parliament flexes its political muscles for the first time.

Other commissioner-designates under fire include Laszlo Kovacs, the Hungarian up for the energy post and Neelie Kroes, a Dutch businesswoman taking charge of competition who some MEPs believe suffers from conflicts of interest from her work in the private sector.

Peter Mandelson, the British commissioner for trade, is not among those raising concerns with MEPs.