European Parliament approves new EU commission (Roundup)

By Alvise Armellini (dpa) Feb 9, 2010, 16:44 GMT

Strasbourg, France - The European Parliament approved Tuesday the new European Commission led by former Portuguese prime minister Jose Manuel Barroso, clearing the way for it to take office for the next five years.

The commission is the European Union's executive, which manages the bloc's 130-billion-euro (178-billion-dollar) annual budget, drafts its laws and makes sure member states obey them.

The appointment of the 27-strong team - one commissioner from each EU member state - was backed by the assembly in Strasbourg with 488 votes in favour, 137 against and 72 abstentions.

That wide majority gives the commission 'a real mandate for boldness,' Barroso said immediately after the vote.

The parliament's main political families - conservatives, socialists and liberals - voted in favour of the commission. All members of the EU executive have links to these three parties.

A eurosceptic minority group headed by Britain's Conservative party, along with like-minded politicians from Poland and the Czech Republic, abstained. The assembly's other minority factions, including the Greens and far-left and -right parties, voted against.

The parliamentary debate was livened up by the head of the Greens, former 1960's firebrand leader Dani Cohn-Bendit, who called the three big parties 'a coalition of hypocrites' for supporting Barroso out of political opportunism.

British eurosceptic leader Nigel Farage likened the EU to the Soviet Union, drawing angry reactions. The commission chief said people who make such comparisons 'do not know what living under a totalitarian regime was like and do not know what is democracy.'

Tuesday's vote concluded an appointment process delayed by several months. First because the Lisbon Treaty - a legal text that reforms the EU's workings - came into force on December 1, 11 months later than expected.

Then the Barroso team was hampered by the parliament's rejection of the Bulgarian candidate, Rumiana Jeleva. She resigned after being accused of incompetence and financial impropriety, and was replaced by World Bank vice-president Kristalina Georgieva.

'The EU's institutions are working at full speed now,' parliament president Jerzy Buzek noted, relieved that the saga over the new commission is over.

In exchange for MEP's support, Barroso promised 'radical change', vowing to embark on an ambitious legislative programme. He announced measures to strengthen economic coordination within the eurozone, an item high on the agenda since Greece's budget crisis shook confidence in the single currency.

But the commission chief remained guarded about other proposals, such as a euro-bond issue to help countries in financial dire straits.

'I do not want to feed speculation that could be negative for the country concerned,' he said.

Before giving their go-ahead, MEPs extracted from the commission a pledge to give them more powers in the context of a so-called inter-institutional agreement. The deal is to be finalised in May or June and is expected to run until 2014.

The 53-year-old Barroso is to lead the commission for a second consecutive term. Over the next five years his team is set to steer EU common policy on major issues such as financial reform, economic revival and climate change.

It is also expected to plan the overhaul of the EU's budget and its costly farm policy, which currently soaks up around one-third of all spending.

The debates over financial and agricultural reform are likely to be particularly venomous, putting two of the EU's biggest hitters, France and Britain, on a collision course.