STRASBOURG (AFP) - EU lawmakers are expected finally to declare the European Union's new executive arm fit for office Thursday, ending an unprecedented three-week state of limbo for the expanding bloc.
The European Parliament, which sparked the stalemate over outspoken anti-gay comments by an Italian official, cleared the way for a "yes" vote for the new European Commission in hastily-arranged hearings Monday and Tuesday.
"On Thursday we can have a commission with wider support than that which the first proposal would have had," said parliament chief Josep Borrell. "If that is the case, Europe will have won."
Barring upsets, the Strasbourg-based EU assembly will give its formal assent to the 24-person team led by Jose Manuel Barroso, who hopes to formally take office in Brussels next Monday.
Barroso, who should have started work November 1, had to withdraw his first-choice team at the last minute after EU lawmakers threatened to veto it. Outgoing commission head Romano Prodi has stayed on as caretaker in the meantime.
The chief problem was Italy's nominee for Brussels, the cigar-chomping conservative Catholic Rocco Buttiglione, who sparked uproar at his confirmation hearing with EU lawmakers by declaring homosexuality a "sin."
After nearly a week of arm-twisting, Buttiglione -- who insisted there was an anti-Catholic crusade against him -- finally agreed to stand down and make way for a new Italian nominee.
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini was in due course chosen, and carefully avoided controversy at confirmation hearings this week where he went out of his way to declare his support for women's rights.
In what was widely seen as political horse-trading, the conservative Buttiglione's departure was balanced out by a shift of Hungary's socialist nominee Laszlo Kovac, from the energy to the tax portfolio.
Latvia, another of the 10 new countries which joined the EU in May, also agreed to switch its candidate in what was described as a "limited reshuffle."
The EU parliament, long considered the poor relation in the EU family, has made no secret of its delight at having given EU member states a bloody nose as it flexed its growing political muscle.
Socialist group boss Martin Schulz, who was the key force in blocking accord last month, hailed the result of this week's hearings.
"We learned a lesson that when we... stand together and keep united we have enormous power," he said. "I'm sure that the (EU governments) learned that the European Parliament was a very long time underestimated."
Barroso was due to address EU lawmakers later Wednesday, accompanied by his new team, on the eve of the vote. He was expected to be suitably modest ahead of the parliament's decision.
11/17/2004 - 11:12 GMT - AFP