Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-11-17-Speech-3-163"
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"en.20041117.9.3-163"2
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"Ladies and gentlemen, I have paid a great deal of attention to your comments. You have stressed the need for a strong and competent Commission, and a Commission which is there for all European citizens. I have made a number of changes in order to meet these demands, changes which I believe to be fair and necessary, but which have not entailed a completely new line-up. In the process of doing so, I have had to take account of a number of different and sometimes contradictory expectations, both from political groups in this House and from Member States. As you will be aware, I had to choose the members of my team in agreement with each Member State, and the responsibility is therefore shared, which is a point I should like to stress. During discussions with my colleagues in the Council I made sure that Parliament’s concerns were raised, and I proposed the changes I believe to be necessary.
To sum up, I have brought two new Commissioners onto my team, Mr Frattini and Mr Piebalgs, and I have reallocated Mr Kovács’s portfolio. All three of these Commissioners have now appeared before hearings held by parliamentary committees, and this has made it possible both for Members of this House and for the wider public to become better acquainted with them and to gain a better understanding of their vision of Europe. I should also like to express my thanks to Parliament for the flexibility it has shown in organising these hearings, which nevertheless retained all their substance and stringency. These hearings provided you with an opportunity to ask the Commissioners-designate serious and complex questions, and I believe that the answers they gave to these questions were very good ones.
Whilst presenting my team to you today, I should of course like to reaffirm my commitment to the establishment of a new group of Commissioners responsible for basic rights, the fight against discrimination and equal opportunities, as well as my intention to put forward proposals on a series of ambitious measures aimed at strengthening our respect for basic rights. This is an issue which touches upon all areas and which all Commissioners must bear in mind, and this is why I myself will act as chairman of the group with Mr Frattini, Vice-President of the Commission, as vice-chairman.
Finally, I have taken other steps as announced before the October part-session, which include the putting in place of extremely strict procedures to avoid any conflicts of interest with regard to competition policy.
Taken as a whole, these changes have made it possible for us to retain the balance of the original team. The new Commission still has a higher proportion of women than any Commission before it, and the Commissioners bring with them a broad range of political experience and an in-depth knowledge of the European Union. It should not be forgotten, however, that the Commission gains its strength from the collegiality it embodies, which is enshrined in the Treaties and which forms part of the history and beliefs of the Commission. Provision is made in the Treaty for the Commission to be approved as a whole. I would therefore call on you, when voting, to judge us on our capacity to serve the European interest, both individually as a Commission and jointly with this House.
I can assure you that we are intent on working in an open and transparent fashion. I hope that our work together will be based on mutual respect, which has been strengthened during the approval process and which I hope will be reflected in a renewed framework agreement. If this is the case, we will be able to provide constructive answers to the issues raised in the motions for resolutions upon which you will be asked to vote, and to which I shall respond tomorrow."@en1
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