The resulting 28-strong executive structure, a sprawling mix of cherry-picked and horse-traded leaders, will be admittedly “very political”, Juncker told the EP at its plenary session before the vote, which came out 423 in favor, 209 against and 69 abstaining.
Juncker defended the role of the Vice-Presidents, introduced for the first time, as necessary “to coordinate, put together and organize ideas.” He also lamented the few in number of female Commissars he was able to fight for – only nine out of 28 – saying that was “still pathetic”.
Eiropas Komisijas "klase" 2014-2019! pic.twitter.com/lJoc8hvSPS
— Marta Ribele (@martaribele) October 22, 2014
Among the newly approved Vice-Presidents, Latvia's former premier Valdis Dombrovskis will be in charge of the Euro and Social Dialogue.
Thanks to @Europarl_EN for the mandate of trust in our work to strengthen Europe's growth,competitiveness and cooperation of social partners
— Valdis Dombrovskis (@VDombrovskis) October 22, 2014
The approval of the next EC smooths the way for Latvia's pending assumption of the Presidency of the Council of the EU in just over eight weeks.
However, EU member-state governments must still formally appoint the Juncker Commission before it can assume its leadership by November 1.
