Trade will be in good hands with Valdis Dombrovskis

"Valdis Dombrovskis gave a very convincing performance this afternoon. There is no doubt that he is the right man to continue building on the work of Phil Hogan and to lead EU trade policy with a steady hand. As an experienced Executive Vice-President who already supervised trade in his dossier prior to taking full charge of the portfolio, he has shown that he can hit the ground running in this crucial time for EU trade policy", said Christophe Hansen MEP, EPP Group Spokesman in the International Trade Committee of the European Parliament.

"With a Trade Policy Review in full swing, the WTO on life support, the need to reset transatlantic relations, and the urgency to rebalance our trade relationship with China, the tasks ahead of him are formidable. The fact that the Trade portfolio has gone up to the level of an Executive Vice-President bespeaks the mounting importance of trade relations for this geopolitical Commission, even more so in a world where the multilateral agenda seems to be stagnating, if not backsliding. With the additional political clout that comes with the Executive Vice-Presidency, Valdis Dombrovskis will be the confident voice of a continent that is moving forward and is proud of its position as the world's leading trading power."

"For the EPP Group, Mr Dombrovskis has amply demonstrated that he has the straightforward approach required to leverage trade policy as a vector of our values, standards and innovation as well as an enabler of market access for our companies and a key instrument for the creation of a global level playing field."

"I have no doubt that trade will be in good hands with Valdis Dombrovskis and I look to forward to working with him."