European Alternatives expressed regret in the run up to the European Elections that there was only one declared candidate for the post of the President of the European Commission: the incumbent Jose Manuel Barroso, supported by the conservative European People's Party. Acording to EurActiv today, there is growing support amongst the Greens, some Liberals and the Socialists for the Belgian Liberal and former prime minister Guy Verhofstadt as an alternative candidate. It is good news that there seems to be a coordinated attempt by the parties to provide an alternative, it is too bad that voters weren't given a choice about who they would like. European Commissioners are some of the most powerful people on the planet, even if Barroso himself chose thoughout most of his incumbency to leave the initiative to member states. Although the commission is proposed by the European Council of member states, and Barroso supposedly has the support of most of them, the European Parliament has the right of veto. The Parliament could have taken the opportunity to be more assertive of its popular legitimacy and the parties propose several of their own candidates. This would have given the choice to the people. It didn't happen: the European Socialists couldn't agree, their own party president Poul Rassmussen wavered about whether he was willing to declare an interest or not, and no-one else dared either. Several parties, such as the European Greens led by Daniel Cohn-Bendit, ran an explicitly anti-Barroso campaign without proposing any alternative candidate. The European People's Party are still the largest party after the election, but without a sufficient majority to support the candidacy of Barroso on their own - they would need to support of the Liberals, for example. So now we are in a familar situation of back-room deals and shuffling amongst the opposition about who might be proposed as an alternative to Barroso. Poul Rassmussen is reportedly even touring European capitals to persuade the leaders of the European member states of Guy Verhofstadt's worth. The President of the ALDE liberal party, Graham Watson, is reportedly nervous about supporting Verhofstadt, because he wants to be President of the European Parliament himself (a largely powerless role), and there are doubts if the Liberals would be able to have both posts. Guy Verhofstadt is surely a preferable candidate for Commission President than Barroso. Verhofstadt wanted Europe to take more of a role in dealing with the financial crisis for example, Barroso has sent Hungary and Latvia to the wall. Verhofstadt was opposed to the Iraq war, Barroso hosted one of the crucial meetings to launch it. Verhofstadt seems to have some idea of the role a more federal Europe could play, Barroso has shown himself to be mostly interested in his own reelection. Still, neither would be my own ideal candidate, and the machinations behind closed doors to select either a common alternative to Barroso or (better) several alternatives, one for each party, should have taken place a long time before the elections, which would give the eventual winner some legitimacy, and the European parliament some personality.