by Michael Thurston
BRUSSELS, Aug 20 (AFP) - The incoming European Commission met for the first time Friday vowing to accelerate EU economic reform and improve the EU's faded public image, after it takes office in November.
President-designate Jose Manuel Barroso also said improving ties with partners including the United States was a key aim, as his new 25-strong team held their first informal "bonding" session in Brussels.
"It is important for Europe to have a commission with vision and leadership," he told reporters after the talks, which come before the new commissioners face hearings before the European Parliament next month.
The newcomer commissioners -- only three of whom have already served in the Brussels EU executive -- also pledged to help boost the EU's standing, both on the world stage and among voters.
Margot Wallstrom, the Swedish commissioner charged with the new portfolio of designing a new "communications strategy" for the Union, said the record low turnout in recent EU elections underlined the threat of apathy and euroscepticism.
"It's a matter of communicating with the citizens of Europe in a much better way, and that has to start when we design different proposals... It's more important than just a PR thing," she said.
Peter Mandelson, the former British minister and close confidant of Prime Minister Tony Blair, vowed to use his renowned communications skills to help improve the EU's image, even if his role as EU trade commissioner comes first.
"Obviously I hope that anything I do and say in my capacity as a commissioner will demonstate to people the purpose and the relevance of the European Union," he told reporters.
Another newcomer, Hungarian Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs, raised some eyebrows as he arrived and declared his view of the European Commission's role.
"My main aim (is) to be successful as a member of the government of the European Union, that is the commission," he said. Eurosceptics have long lambasted the commission's aspirations to be a formal government.
Mandelson, keenly aware of Britain's strong eurosceptic sentiment, also took issue with the term.
"It's not a term I would use because I don't think it would be readily understood in Britain," he said, while adding that "obviously the commission needs to be strong and independent."
Former Portuguese premier Barroso, who announced his new team last week, has vowed to return the commission to Brussels's landmark Berlaymont building, all under one roof rather than dispersed as under Prodi.
"It is a very important symbol in terms of the team-building spirit," said a spokesman for Barroso.
At their first meeting Barroso notably underlined the need to respect the code of conduct drawn up by Prodi following the scandals which brought down the previous EU executive under Luxembourger Jacques Santer.
Above all commissioners must avoid conflicts of interest: a risk highlighted by EU farm commissioner-in-waiting Mariann Fischer Boel, who was accused of such a conflict this week, although EU lawyers rapidly dismissed the charge.
Mandelson stressed that the "onus" will be on the new commission to demonstrate its "relevance and its purpose," adding that "until then it will not enjoy the full respect that it merits."
"The important thing is for the new commission to set out a clear sense of purpose, a vision for Europe, and a set of priorities. That is work in progress," he added.