Robert abstains on new European Commission vote
ECR group abstains on new European Commission and calls for reform of the confirmation procedure
9th February 2010 — The European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament has abstained in today’s vote on the new European Commission, saying that it cannot offer the same confidence in the new college as a whole as it has in President Barroso.
Following the vote, ECR chairman Michal Kaminski said:
“The ‘take it or leave it’ nature of the confirmation vote has meant that we must assess the college as a whole. This is lamentable because there were strong candidates who we would have endorsed, and weak candidates who we would have opposed.
“In today’s vote we have signalled our support for President Barroso, expressed our concerns about the competence of some of the new commissioners, and conveyed our criticism of the confirmation procedure.”
Robert Sturdy said:
“I accepted the ECR position to abstain. However, I have always maintained that we should be able to vote on individual commissioners rather than the whole group, and therefore my instincts were to vote against the entire commission.
“I was also disappointed that Barroso decided to move some existing commissioners when they had already established an extremely strong position in those roles.”
