European Parliament Approved the New European Commission

With the imminent explosion if the Greek situation and dangerous turbulences in the Spanish and Portuguese economies, the European Parliament voted today for the new European Commission backing the Portuguese Manuel Barroso team of 27 representatives of all the EU Member States.

The new executive is formed by one member for each European Member State and won the preferences of the European Parliament with a large majority: 488 were the votes in favor of the Barroso-bis, 137 the ones against and 72 the abstentions.

President Barroso immediately précised the priorities of his cabinet: “Over the next five years, I hope that this commission will play a key role in bringing Europe out of the crisis with a competitive economy which provides our citizens with sustainable growth and prosperity.”

The Estonian Siim Kallas was confirmed at the vice-presidency and at the DG Transports while his fellow colleagues from the Baltics Algirdas Semeta (Lithuania) and Andris Piebalgs (Latvia) went to Taxation and Custom Union, Audit and Anti-Fraud the former and Development the latter.