The new European Commission met for the first time today. Ireland's Máire Geoghegan-Quinn has been appointed Commissioner for Research and Innovation.
The new European Commission met for the first time today. It was appointed following a vote of approval yesterday by the European Parliament.
This Commission is the first under the Lisbon Treaty. The European Council, responding to the concerns of the Irish voters, decided to use its powers under the Lisbon Treaty to ensure that, in future, there will continue to be one Commissioner from each Member State.
Over the next five years, the 27 members of the Commission, under its President Jose Manuel Barroso, will play a central role in Europe’s efforts to create jobs and growth in Europe. You can read more about the Commission's work
here.
Máire Geoghegan-Quinn - the first Irish woman to become a European Commissioner - will play a particularly important role in developing Europe's economic future. She has responsibility for Research and Innovation, including €53Bn in research funding which Europe is providing from 2007 to 2013. She will also play a key role in preparing proposals for Europe's future research funding in the years to 2020.
A target has been set of €600million in EU research funding to Irish researchers and enterprises. Many Irish research projects have benefited from this funding already. Watch Catriona Ward, Research & Development Director, Enterprise Ireland, Brussels talk about benefits for Ireland of the European Union's research programme here:
You can see all the members of the new Commission by clicking
here.
You can read more about Máire Geoghegan-Quinn and the contributions of previous Irish Commissioners
here.