Barroso wins second term as EU commission chief

PanARMENIAN.Net - The European parliament on Wednesday gave Jose Manuel Barroso a second five year term as president of the powerful European Commission after months of wrangling over the EU's top job.



The conservative former Portuguese premier won 382 votes to 219 against, from among the 718 lawmakers who took part in the vote in Strasbourg. There were 117 abstentions.



The comfortable majority means Barroso's term cannot be challenged even if the new Lisbon treaty of EU reforms comes into effect next year as expected.



As president of the EU's executive arm, Barroso is in charge of the Brussels bureaucracy that draws up legislation that impacts on the lives of about half a billion Europeans.



The president has significant leverage to influence legislative priorities of the commission which next year will have a budget of 138 billion euros (200 billion dollars).



Barroso thanked lawmakers who backed him, after weeks in which parties had grilled him over his future plans and criticised his past handling of major challenges, such as the financial and economic crises.



"As president of the commission, my party is going to be Europe," he said.