Banner

General

  By a Newsnet reporter
 
The President of the EC, Jose Manuel Barroso has lost out in the race to become the next Secretary General of NATO.
 
According to Norwegian news outlet Aftenposten, former Norwegian PM Jens Stoltenberg will become NATO’s next Secretary General and is expected to be appointed when the organisation’s foreign ministers meet in Brussels in April.

Stoltenberg’s bid, despite Norway being a nuclear free member of NATO, was reportedly backed by UK Prime Minister David Cameron.  Cameron joined French President Francois Hollande, US president Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in supporting the Norwegian’s candidacy.

The news will be a devastating blow to Mr Barroso after rumours swept Brussels that the Portuguese politician was seeking the support of Cameron in his NATO candidacy bid. 

Barroso recently created controversy after appearing to take sides in the Scottish independence referendum when in a BBC interview he claimed a newly independent Scotland might find it “impossible” to remain inside the EU.  The comments, in which he also compared Scotland to Kosovo, were slammed by academics and other European politicians and resulted in EC officials having to issue clarification statements.

Barroso, a former prime minister of Portugal, was chosen by EU heads of state and government and approved by the European Parliament as the 11th Commission president in 2004. After his centre-right EPP party won the European elections in 2009, Barroso secured the support of Parliament on 16 September 2009, for a second five-year mandate.

His tenure as the EC President comes to end this year and he was known to be desperate to replace outgoing Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at NATO.

Barroso’s replacement as President of the EC will be determined after the Euro elections to be held in May.  His departure as EC President will be welcomed by most in the pro-independence camp who view his interventions into the referendum debate as, at best, unhelpful.

His failure to win the backing of David Cameron in his NATO bid suggests that any quid-pro-quo agreement, imagined or otherwise, is now dead.  Whether this results in more helpful statements from his office over the EU membership of states such as Catalonia and Scotland remains to be seen.

Comments  

 
# Rossyboy1 2014-03-24 01:04
As my auld granny used to say “Ach ma heart bleeds purple pish fur ye son”
 
 
# Willie MacDonald 2014-03-24 05:18
Now that he has failed in garnering support from Cameron for his prefered job will he be coming out with a correction to his statement?
 
 
# Christian_Wright 2014-03-24 05:42
Oh dear, oh dear.

Couldn’t have happened to a more deserving statist. We shall miss him.

No, really.
 
 
# Rodders 2014-03-24 06:57
As you can imagine Mr Barroso all of us here on the Yes side are devastated at you losing out on the top NATO job.

PS Isn’t it funny the successful candidate to lead NATO comes from a small, oil producing non nuclear country.
 
 
# UpSpake 2014-03-24 08:31
Barroso has much bigger problems on his place domestically in Portugal to worry about.
My guess is by early Spring matters will have moved on and names, very very big names, will be exposed in what is a horrendous crime and will utterly destroy those involved, including Borroso.
 
 
# IXL 2014-03-24 08:32
Exactly what I was thinking Rodders as I started reading the article 🙂
 
 
# handclapping 2014-03-24 09:55
Compliance may get you so far but when it comes to the top principles matter.

Oh dear, what a shame, lovely boy! 🙂
 
 
# Willow 2014-03-24 10:09
Wee Shame!

Wonder if the BBC will cover this?

Regarding the BBC, I am seeing more & more articles which provide a link to BT at the bottom of the page but they don’t provide a like to Yes Scotland.
They are also guilty of replacing SNP link with a Scottish Government link yet listing all the other parties.
 
 
# cynicalHighlander 2014-03-24 11:54
Scotlandshire: BBC Scotland Coverage Of The Independence Referendum: medialens.org/…/…

Quote:
Coverage of the Scottish independence referendum, due to be held on September 18 this year, is a compelling example of the deep establishment bias of the corporate media. Some critics have characterised the BBC’s coverage, in particular, as though Scotland is merely a region or a county of the United Kingdom called ‘Scotlandshire’.

 
 
# jdman 2014-03-24 10:35
Aw the wee shame 🙂
maybe he’ll come out in favour of Scotland’s accession to the EU now that he has nothing to gain from lying through his teeth.
 
 
# RTP 2014-03-24 10:36
I am still waiting a reply to my second email I sent to Barroso so I wont be sorry to see him go,will Marr have him on after he goes,I doubt it.
 
 
# DonaldMhor 2014-03-24 10:53
Interesting that Norwegian PM Jens Stoltenberg is being touted as next SG of NATO. Rather blows a hole in the propaganda about non nuclear membership of that organisation eh what? Another unionist fox is dead. I am so happy for Barrosso, and his new bestest pal Andrew Marr.
 
 
# Leswil 2014-03-24 11:08
Somehow I feel soooo smug about this! LOL.
 
 
# Breeks 2014-03-24 11:16
Mr Barosso won’t forget the Tories double cross logo in a hurry, not now anyway.

And imagine losing out to Norway, a tiny little non-nuclear country with no clout in the big bad world. Aye, right…
 
 
# ButeHouse 2014-03-24 11:26
It’s hard not to laugh and as laughing is such a healthy pastime I did allow myself a short chuckle or two – OK, maybe a bit more than a chuckle and do you know, I’ve never felt healthier 🙂

YES18
 
 
# Independista 2014-03-24 11:29
Perhaps Cameron had a change of heart, following his flirt with Putin!
 
 
# X_Sticks 2014-03-24 11:38
Does this mean that David Cameron has broken another promise?

Or does he just not have the influence in NATO that he thinks he does?

Barrosso bounced, couldn’t happen to a better(together  ) guy.
 
 
# Fungus 2014-03-24 11:43
Oh dear, whit a bugger! Still never mind, he could maybe run for office in an independent Cataluna..then again there is always the broo.
 
 
# Jimbo 2014-03-24 11:48
I have to say that while indulging in a sense of schadenfreude at Barroso’s expense, I would rather trumpet the fact that a politician from a small country with a similar population to Scotland, and is not part of any political union, has procured the top job in NATO.

No-one considers Norway too wee, too poor or incapable of running its own affairs – nor, would it seem, unacceptable that one of its politicians is considered the apt choice to be NATO’s next Secretary General.
 
 
# Mac 2014-03-24 11:49
Gutted for the man. Stabbed in the back by Cameron.

He will understand now why Scots don’t trust Tories.

I will put Barroso down as a YES man now.
 
 
# Marga B 2014-03-24 12:03
OT hope the administrators (PS pls. remove if out of line) do not mind this intrusion with a cheery bit of “culture” on a Monday morning – here is a new song on the deluxe edition of Columbian singer Shakira’s new CD, out tomorrow:

Boig per tu (Mad about you, in Catalan)- original by Sau:

shared.com/…/

The Catalan connection? Shakira (Piqué of Barça’s partner) is getting death threats and hate mail from some Spanish fans for singing in Catalan.
 
 
# Jimbo 2014-03-24 12:05
@ UpSpake:

Care to expand on that, UpSpake?
 
 
# admiral 2014-03-24 12:27
OT, but they obviously don’t do irony at the Daily Telegraph:

blogs.telegraph.co.uk/…/…

Contributor points out the successes of small, independent countries!
 
 
# Legerwood 2014-03-24 13:25
Good for a small country on the world stage. Lets hear it too for Luxemburg – small, very rich and occupying a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

I see that an opinion poll puts the SNP leading labour by 12% points in the EU election race (online Herald report. Mr Barosso will not be happy. Shame.
 
 
# Alathia 2014-03-24 14:08
Now whats the chances of an independent Scotland supplying the next one…
 
 
# colyou6 2014-03-24 16:48
Hopefully Scotland pulls out of NATO and leaves the bully club.
 
 
# Nigel Mace 2014-03-24 23:42
What a fitting end for the man who hosted the notorious Azores meeting where Aznar, Bush and Blair plotted the illegal invasion of Iraq. Truly this couldn’t have happened to a nastier man – except of course Blair, who also disparraged Scotland’s Parliament – funny how they stick together!
 
 
# weegie38 2014-03-25 09:56
@jimbo:
I’m guessing it’s the Dalli bribery scandal, or at a push the Casa Pia thing. Just search online using the words Barroso and scandal – there’s a fair few choices!
 

You must be logged-in in order to post a comment.

Banner

Donate to Newsnet Scotland

Banner

Latest Comments