Controversy haunts Borg as MEPs not expected to issue collective statement

No collective statement is expected to be issued by the European Parliament's MEPs who coordinate the three committees that will hear commissioner-designate Tonio Borg on Tuesday 13 November, as signs of disagreement from the various groupings will mean it will be the plenary of MEPs to decide on Borg's appointmen

Borg's three-hour hearing was expected to be followed by a meeting between the chairman of the environmental and public health, food safety committee (ENVI) Matthias Groote and the political coordinators of the EP parties inside the ENVI, IMCO (internal market) and AGRI (agricultural) committees.

Some 20-odd MEPs were expected to agree on a positive, negative or ambiguous statement of evaluation for Borg, but it is clear - sources from the European Parliament confirm - that no such collective statement will be issued, a sign of the lack of agreement between MEPs on the choice of Borg.

Instead it will be the European Parliament's chairpersons of committees that will pass on their findings to the presidents of the political groupings, which meet Thursday 15 November, to set the agenda for the plenary of 19-22 November, for MEPs to decide on the approval, or not, of Borg.

Borg may therefore find support from his fellow MEPs from the European People's Party as well as elements from the right-wing and Eurosceptic groupings of the European Conservatives and Reformists, and the Europe of Freedom of Democracy; on the other hand, he will find less support from the Greens, the left-wing European United Left, and perhaps the Liberal-Democrats - who hold the balance in typical left-wing divisions.

MEPs like ENVI member Holger Krahmer tweeted on #rejectborg that Borg's candidature should be withdrawn, while Swedish liberal MEP Cecilia Wikström called Borg a "dinosaur". Added to this flurry of accusation, is a statement by the EP's intergroup on LGBT rights, which groups 139 MEPs from six political groups, saying Borg's statements on gay rights and abortion would prevent him from being an impartial health and consumer policy commissioner.

Following statements by Socialists & Democrats presidents Hannes Swoboda that Borg should expect a "severe" grilling, it seems the socialists 189 members will hold the balance in the final vote on Borg.

The EP's members can be strict about who gets appointed to a European institution. Romanian nominee for the Court of Auditors, the former Commissioner Leonard Orban, was rejected over a potential conflict of interest, while last month, the appointment of Luxembourg's Yves Mersch to the executive board of the European Central Bank in a symbolic protest over the lack of female candidates.