EUROPEAN COMMISSION: EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT STILL SPLIT OVER NEW TEAM.

The Conference of Presidents meeting was supposed to bring clarity to the situation, following the Civil Liberties Committee shock rejection of Mr Buttiglione two day previously. But so split were the political leaders they even avoided talking about individual Commissioners. EP President Josep Borrell emerged despondently saying "I'm afraid I cannot tell you much", adding "we have not added anything" to the letters drawn up by the Committees. "We are on virgin political territory", he said.

Mr Borrell's proposal to have another Conference of Presidents before the October 21 meeting with Mr Barroso - presumably to give him a chance to cobble together a unified front - was rejected by the other leaders. Sources close to the EP President said he had hoped to get a mandate to raise specific questions with Mr Barroso but they refused. The Parliament has now effectively thrown the ball into Mr Barroso's court who has a week to digest the recent developments and draw his own conclusions. A spokesperson for the future Commission President said on October 14 "he will analyse the letters attentively and take them into account when he gives his response on October 21".

EPP-ED President Hans-Gert Pottering (Germany) voiced satisfaction with the outcome, saying "there had been differences in the committees' judgements of the Commissioners-designate. It was now up to Jose Manuel Barroso to make up his mind about this", adding "the EPP-ED Group's goal is to ensure the Commission can take office on November 1". By contrast, Co-President of the Greens Monica Frassoni accused the EPP, Socialists and Liberals of "colluding to support the proposed new Commission no matter how serious its flaws are" She added, "we need to put Barroso under pressure now but instead we are losing precious time".

Rocco's head to roll?

A big question-mark remains over the future of Rocco Buttiglione, with at least four options floating around Parliament's corridors. They range from sending him back to Rome, giving him a different portfolio, taking away parts of his portfolio, to letting him keep the portfolio Mr Barroso gave him on August 12 when the new team was unveiled. The Parliament cannot itself effect these options, it can only approve or reject the whole Commission, but it could create sufficient political momentum to force Mr Barroso into making changes.

Martin Schulz, leader of the EP's Socialist group, threw down the gauntlet to Mr Barroso on October 14, saying "we will...