THE EURO-CRISIS GIVES JOSÉ MANUEL BARROSO HIS MOMENT IN THE SPOTLIGHT

"NOT SEVENTEEN PLUS,

BUT TWENTY-SEVEN MINUS."

OR NOT.

JOSÉ MANUEL BARROSA &

HIS WIFE MARGARIDA SOUSA UVA

On December 13, 2011, European Commission President José Manuel Barrosa rose to address the European Parliament in Strasbourg and dished some dirt on British Prime Minister David Cameron. What ruined the harmonious working of last week's Eurozone crisis summit? The British veto, and why? As The Guardian put it, "In comments which appeared to show exasperation with David Cameron's negotiating tactics, Barroso told MEPs that talks dragged on into the early hours not because of any dispute over the content of the new 'fiscal compact' for the eurozone but because Britain would not accept amendments to the Lisbon Treaty." Not too clear on the purpose -- and urgency -- of the summit, apparently. "The United Kingdom," The Independent reported Barroso as saying, "in exchange for giving its agreement, asked for a specific protocol on financial services which, as presented, was a risk to the integrity of the internal market." As der Spiegel puts it more plainly, Cameron "wanted the British financial sector not to be subject to European supervision." Barroso tried suggesting a compromise, but Cameron was not having any.

Still, as the BBC reported, Barroso "said the 'greatest' risk of the summit, a split between the 17 euro states and the other 10, had been avoided." To wit, according to the EC president, "This is not an agreement at 17-plus, but an agreement at 27-minus."

The commentators piled on. The Tory prime minister, Cameron, was seeking to protect the City of London. The European Commission president, Barroso, aimed at aggrandizing Brussels, his power base, or even dreamed being part of a ruling troika with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy. But then there is the quote from the man of the hour himself: According to Barroso, it is said, "Merkel and Sarkozy are trying to impose their views on everyone else, even though they themselves can hardly agree on any issue."