The history of the European Union from 2004 to the present is the current timeline of the European Union. It is a period of significant upheaval and reform following the 2004 enlargement of the European Union. The EU has taken on ten new members, eight of which were initially much poorer than the EU average, and took in a further two in 2007 with many more on the way. It created the euro a few years before and had to expand this, and the Schengen Area to its new members. However this was overshadowed by the late-2000s recession and damaging disputes over the European Constitution and its successor, the Treaty of Lisbon. Throughout this period, the European People's Party has been the largest group in the European Parliament and provides every President of the European Commission.

Parliament and Commission

During 10–13 June 2004, the 25 member states participated in the largest trans-national election in history (with the second largest democratic electorate in the world). The result of the sixth Parliamentary election was a second victory for the European People's Party-European Democrats group. It also saw the lowest voter turnout of 45.5%, the second time it had fallen below 50%.Vote EU 2004 news.bbc.co.uk

Barroso I The Prodi Commission was due to end its mandate at the end of October 2004, so following the 2004 elections to the Sixth European Parliament, candidates for Commission President began to be considered. There was strong backing for Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt (EDLR) from Republic of Ireland, France and Germany who saw him as a "convinced European and also a fighter". However the federalist was opposed by Spain the United Kingdom, Italy and Poland due to his vocal opposition to the Iraq War and the inclusion of God in the European Constitution. Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern (AEN) was also a popular candidate but did not wish to take up the job.

Due to the victory of the European People's Party in the previous election, EPP parties were keen to get one of their members into the post, including Luxembourgian Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker (EPP), who refused, and Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel (EPP), who was in a coalition with a right wing party which discredited him as a candidate to some governments. A number of Commissioners were also touted, notably Franz Fischler, Commissioner for Agriculture (Austria, EPP), António Vitorino, Commissioner for JHA (Portugal, PES), Chris Patten, Commissioner for External Relations (UK, ED), Michel Barnier, and Commissioner for Regional Policy (France, EPP).

Other candidates were High Representative Javier Solana (Spain, PES) and President of the Parliament Pat Cox (Ireland, ELDR) however both were light candidates. However Barroso emerged as a leading candidate despite his support for the Iraq War and being seen as the lowest common denominator following objections to other candidates. The Parliament approved Barroso as president on 22 July 2004 by 413 votes to 215 (44 abstentions) with most of his support coming from the EPP-ED group. He did however earn praise for his later choice of candidates.

During the hearings, members found fault in a number of Commissioners. Committees questioned the suitability of Ingrida Udre (Taxation and Customs Union), László Kovács (Energy), Neelie Kroes (Competition) and Mariann Fischer-Boel (Agriculture). However the most controversial was Rocco Buttiglione as European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security due to his conservative comments (on women's position in marriage and that homosexuality was a sin) which, in the eyes of some MEPs, made him unsuitable for a job securing civil rights in the EU leading to the civil rights committee to be the first committee to vote down an incoming Commissioner.

The Socialists were the most vocal critics of Barroso and his proposed Commission, while the People's Party backed the commission with the liberals split. Barroso attempted to offer small concessions to Parliament but they were not accepted as the Socialists made clear they would vote down the commission as it stood, leaving the divided liberals holding the balance of whether the Barroso Commission would be the first Commission in EU history to rejected by Parliament. The People's Party demanded that if Buttiglione were to go, then a Socialist commissioner must also be sacrificed for balance.

Barroso eventually gave in and withdrew his proposed college of Commissioners and, following three weeks which left Prodi continuing as a caretaker, proposed a new line-up. There were three changes to help his dented authority and win the support of Parliament: Buttiglione had been withdrawn by Italy and replaced by foreign minister Franco Frattini, László Kovács was moved from Energy to Taxation and Ingrida Udre was withdrawn and replaced by Andris Piebalgs who took over the now vacant post of Energy. The commission was approved on 18 November 2004, 449 votes in favour, 149 against and 82 abstentions, after Barroso gained the support of all three major parties and they took office on 22 November, three weeks after they were due to.

2007 Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU on 1 January 2007 with each being granted a single Commissioner, increasing the college of Commissioners to 27 members. Both new Commissioners were approved by the Parliament on 12 December 2006. Meglena Kuneva was proposed by Bulgaria and was assigned the Consumer Protection portfolio, previously part of the joint Health & Consumer Protection portfolio. She was welcomed by Parliament with the People's Party and Socialists being impressed by her aims and attitude. Kuneva had 583 votes "in favour", 21 votes "against" and 28 votes "abstentions".

Romania originally proposed Senator Varujan Vosganian, however he quickly met with opposition from Socialists and the Commission itself due to his far right views and having no experience of the EU or profile outside Romania. That nomination was replaced by Leonard Orban who was given the portfolio of Multilingualism, previously part of Education, Training & Culture. This however was met a cool reception for being such a slim portfolio. Socialist leader Martin Schulz MEP suggested it should instead focus on ethnic minorities but this was rejected by Barroso. Orban was approved by Parliament with 595 votes in favour, 16 against and 29 abstentions.

Barroso II The 2009 elections again saw a victory for the European People's Party, despite losing the British Conservatives who formed a smaller eurosceptic grouping with other anti-federalist right wing parties. Parliament's presidency was once again divided between the People's Party and the Socialists, with Jerzy Buzek elected as the first eastern European to become President of the European Parliament.

In 2008, Barroso had steadily won support from leaders for a second term as president, Nicolas Sarkozy and Silvio Berlusconi both declared their support for Barroso, though Barroso himself stated it is up to the political parties in Parliament. On 19 July 2008 Barroso stated for the first time that he was seeking a second term and was backed by the EPP for re-election.

In the 2009 elections, the EPP maintained their position as largest party, though without an absolute majority even with the support of other parties to their right. Yet the second and third largest groups, the Socialists and the Liberals, failed to put forward an alternative candidate to challenge Barroso even if they had won.Mahony, Honor (13 June 2009) Socialists warn EU leaders to respect parliament on Barroso issue, EU Observer, Accessed 3 September 2009.Simon, Joan Marc (23 March 2009) Barroso: the candidate of all European parties, European Federalists (Cafe Babel), Accessed 3 September 2009. Despite this, a loose red-green-yellow coalition (the Socialists and Liberals with the Greens–European Free Alliance) formed against him in an attempt to gain concessions from Barroso. They demanded Barroso set out clearly his policy guidelines for his next term and offer key posts in the commission to their group members.Mahony, Honor (2 September 2009) Barroso to publish policy programme for next commission, EU Observer, Accessed 3 September 2009. They also attempted to push the vote back beyond the ratification date for the Treaty of Lisbon to have more power over his appointment.Phillips, Leigh (28 August 2009) Parliament chief wants mid-September decision on Barroso, EU Observer, Accessed 3 September 2009.

In a meeting with the political groups on 10 September 2009, Barroso argued his new policies to a packed room with an unusually lively debate as Barroso defended his record against the Greens, his most ardent opponents. Despite holding his own in the debate he did not win support from the Greens.Phillips, Liegh (10 September 2009) Barroso holds his own in spectacular brawl with Greens, EU Observer however the Socialist and Liberal leaders softened their opposition, the latter approving of the idea of a Commissioner for Human Rights.Mahony, Honor (10 September 2009) Next commission set for human rights post, EU Observer Following the plenary debate on 15 September the People's Party and anti-federalist Conservatives and Reformists declared support, with conditional support from the Liberals. The Socialists, Greens and eurosceptic Freedom and Democracy group all declared opposition, criticising the liberals for switching camps.Mahony, Honor (15 September 2009) Barroso fails to convince critics in parliament speech, EU Observer However the groups struggled to enforce a party line as MEPs vote via a secret ballot. The vote took place on 16 September 2009.Mahony, Honor (10 September 2009) Commission president vote confirmed for next week, EU Observer On 16 September 2009, Barroso was re-elected by Parliament by 382 to 219 (out of 718, with 117 abstentions).

Bulgaria's initial Commission candidate, Rumiana Jeleva, was forced to step down due to opposition from MEPs, mainly the Socialists, who questioned her suitability and financial interests despite backing from the People's Party (to which her national party belongs). Bulgaria rapidly submitted Kristalina Georgieva but this forced the vote on the commission to be delayed weeks so Georgieva's hearings could be arranged.Mahony, Honor (19 January 2009) EU commission vote delayed as Bulgarian nominee steps down, EU Observer The only other commissioner-designate to lack support was returning commissioner Neelie Kroes, who was also seen to perform poorly in her hearing. However, she was invited back and secured more support, indicating she will get approval from Parliament.Willis, Andrew (19 January 2009) Kroes performs better in second EP audition, EU Observer

Parliament approved the new line-up on 9 February 2010 with 488 votes in favour. 137, the greens and far left, voted against while 72 MEPs abstained; including the conservative and reformists who abstained on democracy grounds.Mahony, Honor (9 February 2010) EU votes in new commission after long delay, EU Observer The greens criticised the other parties for opposing Barroso's team and then voting in favour anyway, protesting that Barroso "assigned portfolios without respect to the prospective commissioners' competences. Worse still, he moved commissioners from posts where they were doing a good job. The new college risks being characterised by internal power struggles instead of teamwork due to the unclear division of responsibilities." while the conservatives desired a vote for them individually as "there were strong candidates who we would have endorsed, and weak candidates who we would have opposed."Banks, Martin (9 February 2010) EU commission wins seal of approval, theParliament.com

Juncker

Von der Leyen

Institutional reform

Constitution