STRASBOURG, July 21 (AFP) - European Commission president-designate Jose Manuel Durao Barroso vowed Wednesday to "open a new chapter of European integration" and tackle head on both eurosceptics and widespread euro-apathy.
The former Portuguese prime minister, seeking the European Parliament's approval to succeed Romano Prodi as head of the EU executive, pledged to head a strong Commission able to maintain firm independence from EU member states.
"Europe needs a strong, credible and independent Commission," he told the Strasbourg assembly, meeting for the first time since the European Union's expansion in May.
"I pledge to work actively for a Europe which is much more than only a market: I want Europe which is also social and cultural ... Let us together open a new chapter in European integration," he added.
Duraro Barroso emerged as a compromise candidate among EU leaders last month to take over the commission, which is seen as the guarantor of the EU's collective interests against domination by the bigger member states.
He is widely expected to be approved by EU lawmakers in a vote on Thursday, even if some socialists and greens have criticized him over his policies as Portugese government head, as well as his support for the US-led war in Iraq.
On Wednesday he set out his case to the new EU parliament, elected last month in polls marred by record low turnout and also a surge by anti-EU parties in a number of countries.
"We must recognize that the biggest challenge we face is not the euroscepticism of the few, but the euro-apathy of the many," he said. "We must make the case for Europe and this will be a huge communication challenge."
Durao Barroso notably won the backing of the conservative European People's Party (EPP), the biggest grouping in the EU parliament and the Liberal Democrats, although Socialists appear divided.
"I won't be a president of the right against the left ... I can be a bridge between the founding members and new members, the richest and poorest ... in the centre and the periphery," he said.
"I undertake to work for them all for the good of the whole of Europe."