LISBON, Oct 11 (AFP) - Incoming European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said Monday he was confident the new EU executive team, which includes five members who have been strongly criticised in confirmation hearings, would be approved by the European Parliament later this month.
"I am confident that it is a good commission, a commission which is politically and technically prepared to meet the challenges that the EU faces," he told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on the future of Europe in Lisbon.
"I expect a positive vote on the part of the European Parliament for my commission."
The European Union's directly elected assembly will vote at the end of October on whether to accept or reject the 25-strong commission as a whole. It does not have the right to veto individual members.
Four commissioners-designate have come under fire during two weeks of European Parliament hearings which end later Monday.
Former Italian minister Rocco Buttiglione, who is due to become the European Union's commissioner for justice and security, has raised the loudest objections because of his conservative views on gays, women and immigrants.
The only political group which supported Buttiglione, a staunch Roman Catholic, was the conservative European People's Party.
The Netherlands' Neelie Kroes, Europe's designated competition watchdog, has come under fire for her past links to leading companies and lack of knowledge on competition issues.
Members of parliament have also raised doubts over Denmark's Mariann Fischer Boel, who has been handed the agriculture portfolio; Hungary's Laszlo Kovacs who is due to handle energy policy and Latvia's Ingrida Udre who is to handle tax policy.