New EU commission voted into office

A new European Union executive board has now been voted into office.

Jose Manuel Barroso, who begins a second five-year term as President of the EU Commission, says governments in the bloc must work to improve coordination in their economic policies, as the region struggles with an unprecedented debt crisis gripping the continent's single currency.

The European Parliament approved the new European Commission by a vote of 488 to 137, with 72 abstentions. Barroso told the EU Parliament that stronger economic coordination is the only way to overcome the financial crisis.

The executive board's approval comes as the 27-member bloc faces huge deficits and debts, particularly in Greece.

That nation's deficit -- 12.7 percent of its GDP -- is four times the maximum allowed under the euro's sound finances rules. EU officials have so far ruled against bailing the country out.

European Parliament President Polish Jerzy Buzek (L) shows documents as European Commission President Portuguese Jose Manuel Barroso smiles during a press conference after the approbation vote by EU Parliament for the college of commissioners of the new EU commission at the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, Eastern France. (AFP/Georges Gobet)