BRUSSELS: The EU’s incoming chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker won the approval of parliament Wednesday for his new team of commissioners after vowing to revive the stagnant economy and tackle a raft of foreign policy challenges.
Lawmakers at the European Parliament in Strasbourg voted by 423 to 209 in favour of the new European Commission with 67 abstentions, allowing Juncker’s line-up to start its five-year mandate as planned on November 1.
In a speech before the vote, Juncker said he would present a huge 300 billion euro (Dh1,396 billion) investment package to boost jobs and growth by Christmas, amid global fears of a return of the Eurozone debt crisis.
He said the EU must do more to tackle issues such as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the threat of the Daesh militant group in Iraq and Syria, and the wave of migration from across the Mediterranean.
“Let’s get Europe moving again,” said Juncker, the former Luxembourg prime minister.
The European Commission includes one member from each of the 28 nations in the EU, a bloc that covers more than 500 million people and taken together represents the world’s biggest economy.
Juncker’s team risked missing its start date after parliament forced him to reshuffle some of his team but the final members made it through the last of more than two weeks of gruelling confirmation hearings on Monday.
He takes over from Portugal’s Jose Manuel Barroso, whose 10 years at the head of the commission saw the EU gain greater powers even as Brussels became increasingly unpopular with sceptical European voters.
It is widely regarded as the most powerful institution in Brussels as it drafts laws, enforces national budgets, and is responsible for negotiating trade deals between other countries and the EU.
Juncker promised to take a careful look at a controversial yet central clause in a proposed giant EU-US free trade deal that allows corporations to sue governments.
He said ‘secret courts’ would not be allowed to “have the final say in disputes between investors and states” as a result of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
Juncker, a member of the centre-right European People’s Party, also urged lawmakers to back his investment package to boost the economy.
World markets plunged last week on concerns the fragile Eurozone economy was set for a triple-dip recession, sparked by debt-ridden Greece’s plans to exit its international bailout early.
“If you give us your support today, we will present the jobs, growth and investment package before Christmas,” Juncker said. “To those who think excessive austerity will automatically revive growth and create more jobs, they should drop those ideas.”
The EU is riven by debate between Germany and its austerity-loving allies and those such as France which want to spend their way back into economic health.
Several MEPs held up banners saying ‘No Austerity’ during the debate.
Juncker promised to be “tough when we need to be tough”, with one of his team’s first tasks likely to be dealing with France over its budget deficit — despite the economic affairs commissioner, Pierre Moscovici, himself being a Frenchman.
He also said his commission had to face up to a “more dangerous world”.
“We only reacted when the Ebola problem arrived on EU shores. We should have acted much sooner,” he said.
Referring to the Daesh group that has taken over swathes of Iraq and Syria, Juncker said it was an “enemy of EU values.”
Juncker however made no mention of the crisis in Ukraine, which has raised tensions with Russia.
