During the course of the recent European Elections, I called for a new approach to the nomination of the next Irish Commissioner, which should happen later this year.

For too long it has been used as a means of retiring ministers who have passed their ‘sell by date’. Rumours to the effect that Taoiseach intends to retire Tánaiste Mary Coughlan to the Commission are simply unacceptable.

I am of the strong view that the Dail must have an active role in selecting and approving the Irish nominee for the Commission. All Dail political parties should be entitled to put forward nominees, and in addition the bodies with nomination rights to the Senate candidates should make nominations. A Dail vote on the basis of a recommendation from the committees which have held hearings on the suitability of candidates and their proposed European agenda would make Europe more relevant to Irish citizens.

The role and purpose of the Commission would become clearer to the public through debate on what the Commission should be doing over the next five years.

The job of Commissioner should no longer be used to get rid of a Taoiseach’s headache.

A more immediate issue relates to the selection by the Heads of State and the European parliament of a new Commission President. It is intolerable that the only candidate discussed by the heads of state is the outgoing President Barroso. President Barroso has quite simply failed to pursue the balanced social, environmental and economic development of the Union over the past 5 years. We can’t have another 5 years of conservative policies and expect that our citizens will ‘love’ Europe. There must be full consultation with all the political groups in the European Parliament on the agenda to be pursued and alternative candidates should also be considered.

The next president of the Commission must pursue a dynamic programme of social, economic and environmentally sustainable development both for Europe and externally. Labour’s three MEPs in the European parliament will only support candidates who demonstrate their commitment to a reformed European Union, and a person signs up to taking a new direction away from the failed laissez faire market agenda that has brought us to the brink of the abyss. We must rebuild our community as well as our economy. That can only be done by integrating all aspects of policy to ensure that we have a cohesive society based on solidarity within the member states and between the member states, combined with a much stronger stimulus package to keep people in work and kick start the economy.