Parliament debate dominated by Lisbon uncertainty

THE urgent need to take action to reverse climate change and tackle the economic crisis has been spelt out by the new Swedish presidency of the European Union to its parliament.

But the debate was dominated by issues of how and when the new commission and its president will be voted on because of the uncertainty over whether the Lisbon treaty will come into force later this year.

This prompted the leader of the European People’s Party, French MEP Joseph Daul, to hint that whichever country prevents the treaty coming into being should lose a commissioner.