STRASBOURG (AFP) - European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso yesterday survived a censure motion against him that arose from a holiday he spent on a luxury yacht with Greek business tycoon Spyros Latsis.

EU lawmakers, sitting in Strasbourg, France, voted overwhelmingly against the motion, by 589 votes to 35 for, with 35 abstentions. Barroso, who was in the assembly yesterday, has said that the motion was a media stunt by Euroskeptics aimed at undermining EU institutions. They claim the trip amounted to a gift worth several thousand euros from Latsis, as a month later he got the OK in Brussels for a multi-million-euro regional aid grant.

Barroso maintains the trip was made with friends and that the decision to give the businessman the grant was made by the previous Commission, well before he came to office.