Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-11-17-Speech-3-244"
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"en.20041117.9.3-244"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to begin by thanking you. I thank you for this debate, for your generally positive reception and for having expressed different points of view. I take note of the support of the majority of you, the concerns you have expressed, the suggestions you have made and also the priorities you have expressed.
I should like to respond in particular to three points: firstly, the composition; secondly, possible conflicts of interest; thirdly, cooperation between the European Parliament and the Commission, thinking in particular of the framework agreement.
I shall start with the composition. Some of you have criticised me because I have taken account of the will of the Member States. That is true: I have taken account of the will of the Member States. That is what the Treaty requires. The composition of the Commission is not the sole responsibility of the President-designate the Commission: it is a responsibility shared between the President-designate and the Council. What I am presenting here is therefore already the result of a compromise. I say this so that it may appear in the Minutes, so that it may be made perfectly clear. It is already the result of a compromise between the President-designate of the Commission and the Members of the Council, naturally also taking account of the will of the European Parliament as I have been able to analyse it. That is why the debate in October was a positive one. In fact, it was as a result of that debate that I came to understand your main concerns and have been able to try to resolve them.
Having said that, I have not been able to resolve all the problems raised and I must tell you why. To a certain extent, you have made contradictory demands. Some of you, for example, are very much in favour of keeping a particular Commissioner, while others do not want that Commissioner. I have been surprised to hear some members of a parliamentary group express serious criticisms of a Commissioner, in this case the Commissioner responsible for competition, when that same group had insisted that I retain the Commissioner in question in this post, which puts us in a peculiar situation in terms of relations between Parliament and the President-designate. In these circumstances, I must say that it is very simplistic to present the composition of the Commission simply as a problem between the President-designate of the Commission and the Council. No! When the President-designate of the Commission allocates portfolios, he is subject to the contradictory demands not only of the different political groups, but also of members of the same political group, as we have seen today.
I say all of this thinking of the future, since there are two aspects that I believe to be absolutely essential. First of all, respect for the Treaties. As you know, the Commission is the guardian of the Treaties, which means that I have had to respect them. I am very much in favour of the Commission’s institutional position, not through institutional egotism, but because more than ever we really need a strong Commission in order to move the European project forward. I am therefore prepared to work with you in an honest, transparent and open way; I am ready for this positive complicity with the European Parliament, but I must tell you that that will not be done to the detriment of the Commission. I could not accept that, because we in Europe all need an independent, credible and strong Commission, in accordance with the Treaties. It is very important that I make this clear to you, so that all of us are aware of our responsibilities. That is why I have taken account of the will of the Member States, while always respecting the Treaties, naturally. I must also say that some of you have cooperated more than others. It is true that certain Member States have shown greater understanding of the concerns that I have expressed than others. I believe this should be pointed out, because I believe it is important to learn every possible lesson from this experience, for the future of the Commission and the proper functioning of our institutions.
With regard to the issue of conflicts of interests, I will say this. First of all, I have taken account of the conclusions of the committee that held the hearing with Mrs Kroes. I must read to you the conclusions of that committee. I shall read them in English because I have the original in English. The committee has confirmed that Mrs Kroes had, and I quote:"@en1
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