mr president i was elected by the people of the south-east of england to reform the eu
block voting for all the twenty-seven commissioners with one vote is business as usual not reform not transparency not accountability not responsible confirmation
mr barroso has my personal confidence so do some of the other commissioners with whom i have had dealings in the past
but that does not mean a vote of confidence in the whole college of commissioners
each commissioner is unique in political history
no other person in a so-called democracy has the power to initiate legislate and execute the same legislation and not be elected individually by anybody
this is wholly unacceptable mr president and therefore i regretfully had to abstain
