Romano Prodi at the end of his term with incumbent José Manuel Barroso and the President of the Councile of the EU, Bertie Ahern

My time in Brussels

By Romano Prodi to The Economist; Jul 9th, 2009

SIR – In his analysis of the process by which the new president of the European Commission is to be chosen and looking back at my performance in that job, Charlemagne called me “clever but incoherent” (June 27th). It is not for me to comment on whether or not I was clever.

As for my incoherence, it may well be that I was unable to express myself fluently. But my missed chance of a second term in Brussels had less to do with form than with substance.

My ambition was to lead European leaders into endorsing leaps forward in European Union integration that I deemed necessary to stand up to the challenges that history and globalisation were placing before all of us. These included the enlargement that took in east European countries, a deep institutional reform, and economic co-ordination in the euro area.

A clash was inevitable with the more nationally minded and deeply Eurosceptic among European leaders (the British prime minister of the time was the most intelligent and eloquent of them all) who would not tolerate the boss of the commission taking the lead.

Romano Prodi
Former president of the European Commission
Bologna