Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, Ireland’s choice for a post in the European Commission, sailed through her hearing at the European Parliament, with a promise to MEPs on the industry and research committee that they would get “a politician” who would fight to defend the EU’s science, research and innovation policies.

She demonstrated that she had got to grips with her portfolio in a short time and satisfied MEPs both that she understood the problems facing research policy and was prepared to take action to solve them.

From the outset, Geoghegan-Quinn, who started and finished her presentation in Gaelic, managed to press the right buttons for the Parliament, calling herself a “politician who is passionate about Europe” and “committed to parliamentary democracy”.

Her political career, which includes stints as Ireland’s justice minister and transport minister, had been about “Ireland working at the heart of Europe”, she said. She went on to praise the European Union for “changing the context for seemingly intractable problems”.

Geoghegan-Quinn, who before her nomination to the Commission had worked at the European Court of Auditors for a decade, showed great enthusiasm for her new job, which, she said, was about putting research, science and innovation at the centre of EU policy.

In the process, she produced a few memorable sound-bites, talking, for example, of turning the EU into an “innovation union” and making an economy where “refined knowledge would replace crude oil”. Stressing the need to improve public attitudes towards science, she said: “A world of zero risk is a world of zero innovation.”

“Europe is at its best when it is working in the future tense,” was another well-practised line.

Geoghegan-Quinn was keen to emphasise her credentials as a politician who would “get things done” in her new post, rather than as a “technocrat or a bureaucrat”. Or, as she put it, “I’m not a mouse”. She repeatedly stressed that the purpose of innovation policy is to develop new products and services that create jobs the EU needs.

Fact File

MÁIRE GEOGHEGAN-QUINN

Research and innovation

Nationality: Irish

Political Affiliation: ELDR

Previous job: European Court of Auditors

Age: 59

Evidence that Commission President José Manuel Barroso is keeping commissioners on a short leash
Jens Rohde, a Danish liberal: “Do you have any guarantees that Barroso will place huge amounts of money in the research area?”
Geoghegan-Quinn: “He’ll kill me.”

Hint of battles to come
Judith Merkies, a Dutch socialist, said Geoghegan-Quinn would have horizontal responsibility for innovation policy within the Commission: “Are you going to be directed by Barroso, or are you going to direct other commissioners?”
Geoghegan-Quinn (laughing): “I am sure Mr Barroso will be very interested in my reply. If you confirm me, I’ll be a very robust commissioner.”

Characteristic quote
“It’s time for action. We’ve done enough talking.”

Moving beyond such sound-bite moments, Geoghegan-Quinn showed her awareness of the problems with the EU’s framework programme for research and development, especially of complaints from small companies about the difficulty of gaining access to funds and, more generally, of complaints about the amount of red tape that organisations have to cut through to secure research funding.

The commissioner-designate promised MEPs that, if confirmed in the post, she would quickly draft a communication setting out how rules could be simplified. These could include flat-rate payments for smaller organisations, she suggested.

She proved diplomatic when asked about funding for research into nuclear power, deftly handling a subject that is politically sensitive in Ireland.

If she disappointed some MEPs, it was by not promising parliamentarians from smaller member states that all member states would receive some funding. She also showed little enthusiasm for calls from Spanish and Green MEPs that research and innovation policy should be directed towards alleviating social problems and helping disadvantaged citizens.

She often overran her allotted time for questions, but this was at least in part due to her apparent enthusiasm for her portfolio and what she would do with it if she were confirmed by the committee.

It was a confident, gutsy performance that combined a promise to stand up for research and innovation policy with a willingness to listen to MEPs’ concerns.

Performance at hearing

Click Here: cheap INTERNATIONAL jersey