MEPs set to back fresh Barroso term
Euro-MPs are expected to back Jose Manuel Barroso as European Commission president for another five years.
Luke-warm endorsement is likely in a vote in Strasbourg after months of muscle-flexing by centre-left MEPs determined to oust the centre-right former Portuguese prime minister.
Twenty-seven EU leaders - including seven socialist premiers - have already supported Mr Barroso's bid to stay on.
But Socialist MEPs, smarting from a drubbing in the Euro-elections, decided to drag out their opposition despite failing to produce a credible alternative candidate.
That meant delays until now in the formal approval required from a majority in the European Parliament.
Centre-right and Liberal Democrat MPs swung behind Mr Barroso on Tuesday night, with Socialists split and British Labour MEPs ignoring Gordon Brown's support for the incumbent by deciding to abstain in the vote due on Wednesday.
Labour leader in the European Parliament Glenis Willmott said she was "disappointed" by Mr Barroso's policy programme for the next five years and insisted she had not been pressured by Downing Street to back him.
Centre-right MEPs, including British Tories, are voting for Mr Barroso, who urged the European Parliament to give him a clear mandate to deliver a "transformational" agenda and a "stronger" Europe. But to appease anti-federalists he insisted: "A stronger Europe does not mean a more centralised Europe. I believe in decisions being taken at the most appropriate level."
He countered accusations of a failure of leadership during his first five years in office, vowing to answer MEPs' concerns by consulting them more.
He promised to deliver a stronger social market economy, sustainable economic green growth, energy security, a crackdown on "shocking" bank bonuses and a "root and branch" reform of the EU budget.