Protecting the Treaties in the interest of all Europeans: the College takes solemn oath to serve the EU

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

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“The words we have just said set the bar very high for each and every one of us. We are determined to meet this challenge. This Commission will comply with a code of conduct more demanding than ever”, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said following the ceremony of the solemn undertaking by the College of Commissioners before the Court of Justice of the European Union on 13 January. She reminded the Code of Conduct was designed to ensure the Commission serves the general interest of all Europeans. “We want to be a more transparent and more accountable Commission, to win more and more the trust of European citizens every day. Because it is to them that Europe belongs.” By this solemn oath, the members of the Commission undertook to comply with the Treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and to exercise their responsibilities in full independence and in the general interest of the Union. “It is a huge responsibility that we have just undertaken. We are guardians of the Treaties. And we have the responsibility to give life to the Treaties with our daily work and our daily action”, von der Leyen stressed, adding the Treaties embody everything the Union stands for and tell the story of European unification. She underlined the Commissioners took oath to work for every European citizen, ‘from a small or a large country, from East or West, North or South’, and who are in her words ‘Europe’s greatest hope’. “Europe only advances if we all move forward, if national interests are reconciled within a broader European interest. [..] When we are united, we are all stronger”, the Commission President said while reminding of the tasks ahead of the Union.