We are gathered here today to receive the solemn declaration of the new Members of the Commission.
The Treaty provides that, when entering upon their duties, the Members of the Commission shall give a solemn undertaking to respect the obligations arising therefrom. The fact that, in accordance with well-established practice, this solemn undertaking is given before the Court of Justice is a symbol of attachment to the observance of the law, which is the very basis of the European Community.
At this formal sitting of the Court of Justice, I would like to stress in particular the close relations which the Commission is called upon to maintain with the Court in the exercise of its responsibilities.
Like all the Community institutions, the Commission is required to observe the law and is subject to the judicial review exercised by the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance. It is, moveover, responsible, as the "custodian of the Treaties", for ensuring that the constituent Treaties and the measures taken by the institutions pursuant thereto are applied. Thus, it may ask the Court of Justice to declare that a State has failed to fulfil its obligations or even, in accordance with a recently-introduced procedure, to impose on it a lump-sum or penalty payment. In all these situations the Commission appears before the Court of Justice as a party in contentious proceedings and defends its particular position, even if only as defender of the public interest.
On the other hand, the role the Commission is called on to play as amicus curiae in preliminary-ruling proceedings had a number of quite special features. The Commission must contribute to the work of the Court by means of an objective presentation of the circumstances of, and what is at stake in, each case, independently of any interest of its own. I cannot overstress the decisive importance of the intervention of the Commission, which is often alone in having a comprehensive view of the problems raised before the Court. Even though it is, ultimately, the Court's task to rule on the interpretation and validity of Community law, our two institutions are here performing duties that are largely complementary. In this way, your independent pursuit, as framers of policy, of the general interest of the Community and our independent pursuit, as judges, of objectivity and justice combine in contributing to the realisation of the objectives of the construction of the Community.
increased responsibilities lie on the shoulders of the new College. First, there can be no ignoring the serious crisis that preceded your appointment and caused a veritable shock wave within the Union. Your success will be of decisive importance in consolidating the place of the Community institutions, and of the Commission in particular, on the European political stage.
Your responsibilities are also measured against the yard-stick of the challenges that await you. I have in mind not only the perspectives of a new enlargement of the European Union but also the major institutional choices which will form the core of the next inter-governmental conference. Even if these choices do not fall directly within your competence, the fact remains that the Commission has an essential role to play in planning the institutional architecture.
Your personality, Mr President, that of each Member of the College, the professional experience which you all possess and the responsibilities, of the highest order, which you have all exercised provide good reasons for predicting that the new Commission will be able to rise to these great challenges.
In expressing to you, in the name of the Court of Justice and all its Members, our best wishes for your success in the performance of your duties, I now invite the President and the new Members of the Commission to give in public their solemn undertaking to respect the obligations arising from their duties.