Importance of the timetable. The EU absolutely needs to prevent any delay to the new European Commission taking up its duties. The timetable has been laid down: vote at the European Parliament at its plenary session on 22 October, the new team led by Jean-Claude Juncker takes up office on 1 November. Any postponement would extend the life of the current Commission, which would then the responsible for taking position on the draft national budgets of the member states for 2015; it would make no sense at all for the Barroso Commission to scrutinise the national budgets for a year in which it will no longer be in place and will therefore not be able to have any influence on the governments.
The EU needs the new Commission. The fact that Jean-Claude Juncker is bringing no pressure to bear on the European Parliament to stick to this timetable is entirely understandable. The timetable means that the hearing of the new Commission before the Parliament will take place on 20 October and the vote will be held on 22 October at the latest. Mr Juncker is quite right to respect parliamentary autonomy; but the Parliament itself should understand the importance of picking up a little bit of speed in its assessment of the programmes of the new commissioners. Europe needs the Juncker Commission, because the current Commission is no longer, for certain elements, giving the impression that it is able effectively to manage the situation, as illustrated by the case of Mr Füle, who quite bitterly rejected the principle explicitly laid down by Mr Juncker: no more accessions to the EU in the next five years (see EUROPE 11175).
Institutional renewal is the sum of its parts, with Federica Mogherini taking the place of Catherine Ashton, Mr Timmermans as vice-president of the Commission and Mr Stoltenberg at the helm of NATO. This means that not just the Commission is involved. But it represents the major component.
(FR)