9 February 2010: The European Parliament has approved the new European Commission, with the vote taking the form of a single ballot on the whole College of Commissioners, consisting of one Commissioner from each of the 27 EU Member States, on 9 February 2010, in Strasbourg, France.

Following approval by the European Council, Connie Hedegaard (Denmark), former President of the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the UNFCCC, has been appointed as the first Commissioner for Climate Action, and Janez Potočnik (Slovenia) Commissioner on environment. The new Commission will stay in office until 31 October 2014.
On the occasion of the vote, José Manuel Durão Barroso, Commission President, delivered a speech on “Speaking with one voice: defining and defending the European interest,” in which he identified leading on climate action and energy efficiency among key priorities. He stressed that Europe is particularly dedicated to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and made reference to greener growth as “building a competitive and sustainable economy, tackling climate change, accelerating the roll-out of smart grids and genuine EU scale networks, modernizing the EU’s industrial base, and turning the EU into a resource efficient economy.” [Barroso’s speech] [EU Press Release] [List of European Commissioners]