New EU Commission approved by European Parliament vote

The European Parliament has voted to approve the new European Commission in a ballot today in Strasbourg, paving the way for the EU's 28 commissioners to assume their posts on November 1st.

Irish Commissioner Phil Hogan, who was present in the plenary chamber in Strasbourg for the vote, will now assume the role of the next EU agriculture commissioner in just over a week's time.

There had been fears that the appointment of the new commission may have been delayed, after MEPs rejected Slovenia’s original nominee.

However, on Monday, the European Parliament’s transport committee agreed to back Slovenia’s replacement commissioner Violeta Bulc following a three hour hearing.

MEPs voted in favour of the commission, by 423 to 209 with 67 abstentions, with three of the main political groups in the parliament - the European People’s Party (EPP), the Socialist and Democrats (S&D) group and the liberal group Alde - endorsing Mr Juncker’s nominees.

Sinn Féin’s three MEPs are understood to have voted against the commission.

Addressing the European Parliament ahead of the vote this morning, Mr Juncker said that he had appointed “political heavyweights” to his commission, with the result that the next European Commission would be the most political yet.

“The men and women who make up my college have carried out important tasks in their home country. They have exercised a great deal of responsibility,” he said, noting that the new commission comprises four former prime ministers and 19 former Government ministers.

Mr Juncker said he had been forced to fight hard to persuade government to send female candidates, describing the final number of female commissioners - nine out of a total of 28 - as “pathetic.”

Mr Juncker also announced a number of changes to the original structure of the commission following requests by the European Parliament.

Former Dutch foreign minister Frans Timmerman, effectively Mr Juncker’s second-in-command following his appointment as ‘first vice-president,’ has been given responsibility for sustainability as well as better regulation.

Citizenship has been allocated to the commissioner responsible for migration and home affairs, Greek commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, following MEPs’ demand that the Hungarian nominee Tibor Navracsics be stripped of responsibility for citizenship.

Sport has now been added to his portfolio of education and youth.

Mr Juncker also confirmed he would allocate responsibility for medical and pharmaceutical products to the health commissioner rather than the commissioner for internal market.

Addressing MEPs this morning, Mr Juncker said Europe was facing a challenging period economically, with investment at very low levels.

"There's been a 20 per cent drop in investment in most countries since 2007, a 36 per cent drop in Portugal, and a higher fall in Greece.

“Without investment economies can’t grow and economies that can’t grow can’t provide employment.”

He said he would reveal details of his €300 billion investment plan for Europe by the end of the year.

Noting that investment “can’t be financed by further expanding debt”, he said that public money had to be used in an “intelligent way” while private money also had to be leveraged.

On the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact rules, Mr Juncker said they “will not be changed” and called on heads of state to ensure implementation of the rules.

While there was a degree of flexibility already built into the Stability and Growth Pact rules, he said structural reforms were also necessary.

Mr Juncker's comments come as France and Italy continue their battle with the European Commission on their 2015 budgets, with France already indicating that it will miss its EU budget deficit targets by another two years.

Both France and Italy are calling on Germany and the European Commission to support greater flexibility in the application of the EU's fiscal rules.

Mr Juncker said while he was committed to an “ambitious” trade agreement with the US, the issue of Investor State Dispute Settlements (ISDS) still remained open from the European side.

The inclusion of an ISDS clause - which allows companies to sue governments for loss of earnings in certain cases - has emerged as a contentious aspect of the EU-US trade deal currently under negotiation. Mr Juncker said Mr Timmermans had been tasked with monitoring the issue, adding that EU courts must be fully respected.