Legislative Observatory
European Parliament
Please fill in this field to find a procedure

Outcome of the European Council on 29-30 October 2009, including the mandate and attributions of the President of the European Council and of the High Representative of the Union for the Foreign and Security Policy, as well as the structure of the new Commission

2009/2613(RSP)

In the presence of the Swedish Presidency of the Council and the President of the European Commission, MEPs debated the issues concerning the prominent figures for the positions of President of the Council, High Representative for Common Foreign policy and European Commissioners.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, announced that a meeting of Heads of State and Government would be held on November 19, 2009 to appoint the President of the European Council, the High Representative and the Secretary General of the Council.

Fredrik Reinfeldt expressed that he did not wish to speculate over the people who will fill the posts. The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barosso, stated that he wanted a new Commission composed of competent and committed Europeans, with a strong democratic mandate and with the capacity to act in accordance with the Lisbon Treaty.

The positions of the different political groups may be summarised as follows:

  • The leader of the European Peoples Party (EPP) invited Mr Barroso to move as quickly as possible to establish the portfolios of the designated candidates, so that they can be heard by the European Parliament in the context of in-depth hearings.
  • The Socialists and Democrats (S&D) requested that the new Commission respects a gender and a geographical balance.
  • The leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) stressed that the position as President of council should be filled by someone who believes in EU integration and in the community method.
  • The Green representative highlighted the need to have strong men and women in the EU’s top positions. She deplored the fact that there was no evidence of any coming forward.
  • Some Members criticised the way in which the debate was conducted at European level. The ECR Group deplored that the discussions focused primarily on the distribution of posts.
  • The representative of the GUE/NGL Group would have liked the debate to have been more focused on concrete politics. The EFD Group said that the issue of unemployment was far more important than the weaknesses of European diplomatic missions.