Het Spaanse voorzitterschap van de EU belooft volledige samenwerking met de nieuwe Europese Commissie (en)

President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso i (r), and President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek i (l). EFE

The new European Commission i received the backing of the main political groupings - conservative, social democrat and liberal - during the plenary session of the European Parliament i (EP) on 9 February.

The EU executive body for the next five years, which will be headed once again by Portugal's José Manuel Durao Barroso, received 488 votes in favour and 137 against, with 72 abstentions.

In 2004, Barroso's first cabinet received 449 votes in favour and 149 against, and he was re-elected last September with 382 votes in his favour, 219 against, and 117 abstentions.

The major change with respect to the last vote is that European socialists decided to officially support the Commission because of their belief that "Europe needs results" and that the centre-left is satisfactorily represented in the new team that will head the Union.

Following the vote, Barroso expressed his "most sincere thanks" for the EP's trust and promised to get to work as soon as possible.

López Garrido, meanwhile, also in Strasbourg, praised Barroso's "Europe-centred speech".

The Spanish Secretary of State also promised "the Council's full collaboration in building a stronger Europe and (...) ensuring that Europe's people are definitively at its heart".

López Garrido is at the European Parliament to discuss the process of EU enlargement to take in Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey.