mr president some member states believe the nomination of a commissioner is a useful opportunity to sort out a domestic problem or settle a political debt
the european commission should bring together the most talented and effective political leaders from across europe people with experience and competence to help it address the enormous challenges we face
after years of institutional wrangling europe needs to refocus its efforts on delivering results in areas where it can add value to the work of the member states and where our fellow citizens expect the nations of europe to cooperate
it must support efforts to nurture fragile economic recovery and to generate growth and jobs and has to play a leading role in tackling energy security and climate change
it must propose central reforms to the european budget and many of the key expenditure programmes
in mr barroso we have the right leader to take the commission forward
in his political guidelines he outlines an ambitious agenda to focus on the issues that matter an agenda which in general we support
every single member state should have backed his efforts by sending the strongest possible nominee as commissioner and in some cases he has been badly let down
of course he must back every member of his team we would expect nothing less from a leader in his position and in organising his team although we question some portfolios he has probably done his best with what he has got
but whilst some nominees are excellent and performed well in the hearings others are mediocre and made a poor impression
some distanced themselves from his own political guidelines
mr president if the vote is favourable we will of course engage constructively with every commissioner and we still hope to be positively surprised but please let us at least have an annual assessment by this parliament of the commission
this is still a fundamentally flawed process and one we cannot endorse fully
for these reasons the european conservatives and reformists will today abstain on this vote
some groups are disunited we are united in that position
