EUROPEAN COMMISSION/PARLIAMENT: BARROSO CLAIMS 'BROAD SUPPORT' FOR AGENDA AFTER EP LEADER MEETING.

The meeting with the Conference of Presidents, the leaders of the EP's political groups, came after a week when Mr Barroso had come under fire from MEPs for the way he had announced his plans to scrap blocked or outdated proposals via the media (see Europe Information 2992, Section I). Martin Schulz, President of the Party of European Socialists, had warned that at the meeting he would tell him that his behaviour over the list of proposals had been "unacceptable".

However, in the end, the meeting went off more cordially than expected. Mr Schulz apologised for comments he had made in the media, saying that he has mistakenly believed that Mr Barroso would not attend the meeting.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Mr Barroso said that he had been overy encouraged by the strong support our programme goto. On the "better regulation" initiative, the Commission President said that there had been obroado but onot unanimous support" for the Commission's plan. He emphasised the need to make oregulation which is friendly for the citizen and for investmento.

Turning to the Constitution, he stressed that he had not said that it was dead but that it was unlikely to be adopted in the foreseeable future, adding: "We will come back to the Constitution in the future when conditions are bettero.

Mr Barroso also that there was an urgent need to get an agreement on the financial perspective in order to get a "new budget for the EU".

He admitted that there had been some criticism from group leaders but put this down to the range of political forces in the EP. From the main political forces there was general support, he said.

However, Italian MEP Monica Frassoni, co-President of the Greens/EFA, told Europe Information that Mr Barroso had received criticism, particularly on the Constitution. She said that while he had denied ever saying that the text was dead, he was very defensive on this point. She criticised the fact that the Commission President had implied the text was dead and then come out with an initiative to ditch legislation. In a press statement, Ms Frassoni said she had been "appalled" by Mr Barroso's "apathetic vision". His grand political project was the withdrawal of 63 useless Directives and the screening of the existing EU rulebook, she said. While some of the legislation was unimportant, Mr Barroso lacked the energy for other more controversial proposals including ones on insurance and European associations. Other laws were victim to Mr...