Today the Juncker Commission is officially starting its term of office that will run until 31 October 2019.
On this occasion, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said: "Thanks
to the democratic support of European citizens, the European Parliament
and Heads of State and government, today the new Commission takes
office. Now it's time to roll up the sleeves and get down to work.
Europe's challenges cannot wait. As of today, my team and I will work
hard to deliver Europe the new start we have promised. Together with a
strong and experienced team I look forward to deliver for Europe during
the next five years."
Background...
"Europe's challenges cannot
wait" – this is the motto of the day: It is the first time that a
European Commission takes office on time since the first European
Parliament hearings were introduced in 1994 under the Jacques Delors
Commission.
The beginning of the mandate of
the Juncker Commission marks the end of a long process leading up to the
new European Commission. Following the first pan-European election
campaign, Jean-Claude Juncker was proposed on 27 June by the European
Council to the European Parliament as candidate for Commission
President. The European Council thereby took the result of the elections
to the European Parliament into account, as required under Article
17(7) of the Treaty on European Union.
On 15 July, Mr Juncker was then elected by the European Parliament by a strong majority of 422 votes (he needed a majority of 376 votes), on the basis of the Political Guidelines he presented to the Parliament.
Following this election and an interview process of candidates for Commissioners, the President-elect selected the other members of the Commission. The final list of Commissioners-designate was then agreed between the President-elect and the Council on 5 September. President-elect Juncker presented his team and the allocation of portfolios on 10 September which was followed by individual hearings of the Commissioners-designate in front of the relevant European Parliament committees.
On this basis, and following the
adjustments Juncker made to his team to address issues raised in the
European Parliament hearings (see IP/14/1163 and SPEECH/14/705), the European Parliament gave its consent to the entire College with 426 votes in favour (out of 699 votes). The European Council then appointed the European Commission at its Summit of 23 October.
