Ireland's European commissioner, Mr Charlie McCreevy, has acknowledged that he needs the support of MEPs if he is to succeed in his new role.
Often critical of the European Union during his time as minister for finance, Mr McCreevy said yesterday: "I'll play by the new rules." He was speaking at a meeting of the Association of European Journalists in Dublin.
Questioned about his willingness in the past to criticise the European Commission, Mr McCreevy chose to heavily emphasise his willingness to co-operate and compromise.
"Maybe that was the impression I gave. My job as a member-state minister was to defend Irish interests and to do my job to the best of my ability.
"If that meant taking on the European Commission then I would do so and every minister around the table should do that.
"My job as commissioner is to enforce EU law and to do my best as commissioner and I will do that. Member states' role is sometimes different.
"Nearly everything I do is in co-decision with the parliament. There are 732 members and you don't have any majority as such.
"It isn't like the Irish system where you are a member of the government and you have your party behind you. Well, they mightn't be behind you, but they'll vote for you.
"There is a major difference, as I know. I operated on that basis. We had a majority. They put their backs to the wall and went in and voted for you.
"It is different out in Europe. I have to get the agreement of the European Parliament. But that is the name of that game.
"When one is in Lansdowne Road one usually plays rugby. "When one turns up on Jones's Road one usually plays Gaelic. I am in Europe.
"I'll play by the new rules."
Warning that the European Union faces "tough choices", Mr McCreevy said: "Europe simply has to become more competitive.
"In a globalised world, and at a time when others are surging ahead, we cannot opt to stay out of the race," said the Internal Market Commissioner.
"It is also not a question of privileging the economic over the social dimension, or vice versa. We need solutions that can protect and develop the European model into the future, but on a realistic and sustainable basis," he said.
The EU's growth is 0.4 per cent behind the United States, while it is also facing a major pension crisis: "The diagnosis is grim. What is at risk is nothing less than the sustainability of the society that Europe has built. We have to accept that, as the old saying has it, if we do not hang together we will surely hang apart," he said.
The new Commission's main ambition will be to increase growth and jobs: "Without jobs, we cannot achieve the socially inclusive society we all wish to see. This is the big test that we face." However, Mr McCreevy acknowledged that the push for greater competitiveness would pose major difficulties for EU member-state governments.
"A lot of things that we have to do are the responsibility of member-states.
"They are not electoral issues. Most political leaders know the challenge facing them.
"But it is all right pontificating from the Berlaymont that this should be done, or that should be done in a member-state. It is a different situation when a politician has to put it into effect.
"It is always very easy to give up the other fellow's job, rather than lay down your own. Unless we do those things we are going to continue to fall behind.
"Things cannot continue as they are," he said.
