On his blog Coulisses de Bruxelles, UE, in a post dated 14th, Jean Quatremer points to the Socialist Group who fought against Barroso's re-election on the next 16th of July 2009 in the newly elected European Parliament. Socialists would be now agreeing with a vote to take place a fortnight before the second Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty on the 2nd of October 2009. Such an agreement is simply allowing a majority of the European Parliament to vote for Barroso, whereas a vote after an entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, then requiring an absolute majority of the European Parliament, would make the issue of the election less certain. To accept a vote in September is thus favouring the nomination of Barroso for a second mandate. The journalist analyses the position of the Socialist Group as a strategy of its president, the German Martin Schulz, to secure his own future election as president of the European Parliament in two-and-a-half years. A coalition agreement between the European People's Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe makes provision for the future presidency of the European Parliament to go to a socialist MEP without stating whom. Schulz believing that Barroso's re-election is unavoidable, he would be currently trying to please a powerful ally afraid as he is of a revenge of the European People's Party MEPs when they will be voting by secret ballot to elect the EP president. He is thus preventing further delay of the vote. A reader's comment qualifies the post and argues that the determining factor about Barroso's election as president of the Commission will be eventually lying in whether the Conference of Presidents will put the provision about Barroso's election on the agenda of the European Parliament's September session. Hence, a decision made in a Conference of Presidents can be undone by another Conference of Presidents up to the last minute with regards to the agenda at stake. The position of the commentator is that the die is not cast as no one can predict what can happen until September. It is suggested that an analysis of the reasons for or against the vote before the October Irish referendum would be interesting as well as an assessment of the Lisbon Treaty entry-into-force schedule. Today, in a new post (available here), Jean Quatremer finally assumes that tomorrow's Conference of Presidents in the European Parliament will leave any possibility open regarding Barroso's election in September. See Jean Quatremer's initial post here. More information about the current session of the European Parliament is available in the French press.