EU court to swear in new European Commission

The new European Commission will be sworn into office today at a ceremony in Luxembourg where the EU’s top 25 officials pledge to further the cause of European integration and not be swayed by political pressure from home.

The ceremony comes two months after European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso finally got his team approved by the European Parliament after the EU assembly rejected some of his original choices.

Barroso’s team comprises one member from each country in the EU, which expanded to take on 10 new members in May.

At the swearing-in ceremony in the European Court of Justice they will promise not to favour their countries but work for the common good of the Union.

The Commission runs the EU’s day-to-day business. It drafts EU laws and ensures the free movement of goods, services, capital and people across the union.

Over the years, the Commission has been given a greater role in steering economic policies and Barroso – formerly prime minister of Portugal – has given key posts to reform-minded figures aiming to revive Europe’s sluggish economic growth.

A key assignment for the Barroso team is to generate jobs and growth and allay public fears about globalisation, outsourcing and liberalisation.

Aware of the public scepticism facing the Brussels ”eurocracy”, Barroso created a new job – vice president in charge of communication strategy. It went to Margot Wallstrom, a Swede who served as EU environment commissioner for the past five years.

Wallstrom’s key task is to generate public support for the EU constitution that should be ratified in all 25 states by the end of 2006, but faces tough referendum challenges in some member nations.

The constitution reorganises a succession of legalese-choked EU treaties into a single, readable document.

It contains a Charter of Fundamental Rights, creates the posts of EU president and foreign minister to give the union more profile and clout on the world stage, widens the European Parliament’s powers and provides for more majority voting to end bureaucratic gridlock.