The European Parliament's new President, Pat Cox, tonight vowed to fight for more democratic control in the EU.
Mr Cox, the first Irish politician to hold the office, signalled a fight for more power for MEPs and less decision-making behind closed doors by EU governments.
He told a news conference it was a "grave deficiency" that so many EU laws were made by ministers in secret.
And he called for more of the EU's €85 billion-a-year budget to be brought under the control of the European Parliament.
Mr Cox, an independent MEP since 1989 for the Munster constituency, beat Scottish Labour MEP David Martin by 298 votes to 237 to take the most prized and prestigious job in the only democratically-elected EU institution.
Minutes later he set out his agenda for his two-and-a-half year term, including the completion of enlargement negotiations to expand the EU into central and eastern Europe, pushing for more economic and social policy integration, and developing an EU constitution "with a large or small C".
Mr Cox also wants to cut through the "bureaucratic and technocratic" image of the EU, so that everyone can understand what it is all about "without having to be a rocket scientist". The victor was joined in Strasbourg by about 80 Munster constituents and his wife and family, apart from his 83-year old mother who, he said, would not fly because of the September 11 atrocities.
He said he hoped Ireland - which has embarrassed EU leaders by rejecting EU Treaty reforms in a referendum - would derive "some psychological satisfaction" at what he called the "extra level of connection" resulting from his election.
Mr Cox, a staunch europhile with a federalist agenda, left no doubt he would use his new position to enhance the Parliament's role, relying on his solid reputation as a heavyweight political figure - something his predecessor, French conservative MEP Nicole Fontaine, totally lacked.
The Irishman, an economist and former journalist and presenter on Irish television, is expected to work wonders for the Parliament's pitiful profile, adding gravitas and helping to ditch the lavish-lifetstyle-gravytrain image.
He delivered a taste of the new style ahead when he was asked about levels of public apathy towards Europe, with a mere 50 per cent turn-out at the last EU elections.
Mr Cox took a dig at US President George Bush, pointing out that even the most powerful people in the world get elected on a 50 per cent turnout - "and only then after they count the votes several times".
The new President has headed the multinational Liberal Democrat group in the European Parliament since 1998, having first been elected to Strasbourg in 1989 as a "Progressive Democrat".
In 1992 he was elected to the Dáil, returning in 1994 to the European Parliament as an independent member and forging links with the European Liberal Democrats, a group he went on to lead.
Tonight he was delighted to be in charge: "I am bound to say as the first Irish person ever to be privileged with leadership of European Parliament, it is a matter of some moment, especially as Ireland is the second smallest state of the Union.
"It indicates a capacity to draw into the centre of European politics people who come from the periphery, in terms of scale or location."
Mr Cox said he wanted to bring added value to the work of the Parliament: "We can shape agenda but we must take possession of it in a strategic way. We have a duty to act on all legislative proposals."
He said the annual euro-budget suffered from a democratic deficit because not enough of it was under MEPs' control. It was not a question of giving MEPs more power for the sake of it, but to improve democracy.
"We must make institutional reform: seeking to constitutionalise how we express ourselves is an important thing."
That would involve establishing a "contemporary and elevated statement of shared European values, of rights and responsibilities, a statement of powers, and limits of power of the key political institutions, and a statement of checks and balances between them."
Mr Cox added: "Such a constitutional order, with a large or small C, is the next preferred step."
Asked how he would be celebrating his elevation to presidential status tonight, Mr Cox replied: "Liquidly".
PA