Renew Europe deeply regrets the vote against an excellent, skilled and committed pro-European Commissioner-designate Sylvie Goulard. It is a clear loss not just for the European Commission, but also for the Parliament who has lost a strong ally.

Sylvie Goulard has paid the price of European and domestic petty politics over an objective assessment of the Commissioner candidates. We should not forget that we - the pro-European majority - have a responsibility, with a new European Commission, to work and start delivering concrete results for the citizens who have elected us last May.

Renew Europe calls on all pro-European groups in the Parliament to reflect profoundly on the way the hearings have been conducted so far. We have already proposed the establishment of an independent body to investigate the integrity of the Commissioners-designate in order to give an independent judgement and not a biased political one as we witnessed on 10 October.