Baltic leaders set for top roles in new European Parliament

The European Parliament on Wednesday voted in favor of Jean-Claude Juncker's new European Commission with Baltic officials taking top roles.

Juncker's team won 423 votes at the parliament in Strasbourg, with 209 euro-MPs voting against and 67 abstaining, the AFP news agency reports. 

The new look European Commission makeup includes top figures from the Baltic states including former Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, who becomes a vice president and commissioner for the Euro and Social Dialog.

Estonia's former Prime Minister Andris Ansip also becomes a vice president and commissioner for the digital single market. Lithuania's Vytenis Andriukaitis takes the  Commissioner for Health & Food Safety role

Juncker's team will take office on November 1 for a five year term.

Speaking to European officials on Wednesday, Juncker, former Luxembourg Prime Minister, lamented the fact that more women were not elected on to the commission despite plea's to governments to do so, BBC reports.   "I'm a bit embarrassed about this because Luxembourg didn't appoint a woman. In the short term I won't be able to change my sex." said Juncker.

Other roles in the European Commission include:

President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker (Luxembourg);
First Vice-President, Commissioner for Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, Frans Timmermans (Netherlands);
Vice-President, Commissioner for Euro & Social Dialog, Valdis Dombrovskis (Latvia);
Vice-President, Commissioner for Budget & Human Resources, Kristalina Georgieva (Bulgaria);
Vice-President, Commissioner for Energy Union, Maros Sefcovic (Slovakia);
Vice-President, Commissioner for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, Jyrki Katainen (Finland);
Vice-President, Commissioner for Digital Single Market, Andrus Ansip (Estonia);
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini (Italy);
Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Vera Jourova (Czech Republic);
Commissioner for Migration & Home Affairs, Dimitris Avramopoulos (Greece);
Commissioner for Digital Economy & Society, Gunther Oettinger (Germany);
Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager (Denmark);
Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Citizenship, Tibor Navracsics (Hungary);
Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, Pierre Moscovici (France);
Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, Jonathan Hill (Great Britain);
Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc (Slovenia);
Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation Carlos Moedas (Portugal);
Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, Marianne Thyssen (Belgium);
Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Elzbieta Bienkowska (Poland);
Commissioner for Trade, Cecilia Malmstrom (Sweden);
Commissioner for Agriculture & Rural Development, Phil Hogan (Ireland);
Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu (Romania);
Commissioner for Climate Action & Energy, Miguel Arias Canete (Spain);
Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Karmenu Vella (Malta);
Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid & Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides (Cyprus);
Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn (Austria);
Commissioner for International Cooperation & Development, Neven Mimica (Croatia).