Jose Manuel Barroso with Tony Blair. PAimages/Efrem Lukatsky. All rights reserved.Before becoming Portugal’s Prime Minister, Mr. Barroso was first elected to Parliament in 1985 and served as State Secretary for Home Affairs, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and as Minister of Foreign Affairs. A prominent figure during the last 10 years in Europe, José Manuel Durão Barroso ascent to the top of the financial world comes as no surprise, if we take into account Goldman Sachs’ hiring policy. Intelligent, connected and with a deep knowledge of Europe’s profound complexities, Mr. Barroso is the perfect fit for Goldman Sachs’ London International Bureau (GSI), the bank’s largest subsidiary - particularly after the UK´s decision to leave the EU.
But, should Mr. Barroso have accepted Goldman Sachs´ offer to become the chief lobbyist for the investment bank that, among other dubious moves, helped Greece to circumvent the Maastricht deficit rules? Accepting a position at Goldman Sachs reflects a poor sense of state. Poorer even than his decision, back in 2004, to leave Portugal´s prime-ministership and move to Brussels after only 2 years in office. His decision reflects what many Portuguese have known for a long time, and Europeans are learning just now: Mr. Barroso’s first priority is not his country´s future, not the European project, but himself.
Criticism of Barroso’s appointment has been quick to emerge. Mathias Fekl, the French Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, accused Mr. Barroso of representing that “old Europe” which, according to him, “our generation will change”. Politicians, however, have not been alone in their criticism. The Union for Unity (U4U), the largest trade union representing the EU´s civil servants, has also called for appropriate action on the matter and has circulated a petition, which has been signed by many EU civil servants, for his monthly €18,000 pension to be immediately suspended.
