John Dardis (Progressive Democrats)

It seems that intolerance is not confined to a single area of public life.

It is important that this matter be resolved quickly, and I am critical of the Commission President that it has been left in abeyance. Critical issues face the Union, not least the question of whether Turkey should be admitted. An interregnum with the outgoing Commission, which has already decided to pack its bags, operating the Union and the delay in introducing the new one should be avoided. In that context, the most critical matter of all is that the Commission President works quickly to resolve this issue. It is important for the Parliament to have a say in such matters, but there has been an element of its flexing its muscles and showing it has more power than the Commission. The one deficiency that we may have identified is that it is probably wrong to have a system whereby, if one votes down one Commissioner, one votes down the entire Commission.