Posted on 07/15/2014 11:15:55 AM PDT by Olog-hai
Jean-Claude Juncker was elected European Commission President on Tuesday (15 July) after promising a more social Europe and paying tribute to the major integrationist politicians of the previous generation.
The former Luxembourg PM, who has been on and around the EU stage for the last two decades, received 422 votes, easily surpassing the minimum 376 needed. Of the 729 MEPs that took part, 250 voted against him, 47 abstained and 10 votes were void.
In a 50-minute speech before the ballot, the center-right politician said he wanted the European Commission to be “very political” and indicated he will try and revive the power of the institution—seen as sidelined after member states handled the long-running economic crisis.
He pledged to revive the “community method”—whereby the EU commission is the driver of EU lawmaking—and strongly differentiated himself with the outgoing commission, which is associated with austerity-flavored policies, by giving major focus to social issues in his speech. …
(Excerpt) Read more at euobserver.com ...
Beware of Luxemburgers with hyphenated first names.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.