Europe Set to Pick Its First President: EUX.TV Report

The European Union is getting ready for a decision on who will become known as the first president of Europe. At a summit in Brussels, the EU’s 27 member states are talking informally about who will take on this top role. Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende, Luxembourg PM Jean-Claude Juncker and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair are among a handful of prominent names being mentioned in Brussels. The European President must be a former prime minister and will be selected by hand by his (or her) peers from the EU member states. The Swedish presidency of the EU said it will act swiftly once the final obstacle to the EU's new structure will be lifted, when Czech President Vaclav Havel signs the Lisbon Treaty. From the Guardian: www.guardian.co.uk Tony Blair is an excellent candidate to become Europe's first president, Gordon Brown said today, ahead of an EU summit that is likely to be the first to broach the divisive subject. Speaking at a press conference in Brussels, Brown stressed that his predecessor as prime minister had yet to formally declare himself a candidate, and the terms of the president's role had still to be defined by EU leaders. But he said: We, the British government, believe that Tony Blair would be an excellent candidate and an excellent person to hold the job of president of the [European] council. The topic is not formally on the agenda of a meeting that will be dominated by wrangling over climate change funding and how to get the Czech

Channel: sciencestage.com Video Length: 2m 27s Date Found: Mon, Sep 06 2010 7:20 AM Category: Science Date Produced: Mon, Sep 06 2010 7:00 AM View Count: 0