Buzek Voted EU Parliament’s First East European Head (Update1)
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By Jonathan Stearns
July 14 (Bloomberg) -- The European Parliament chose former Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek as assembly president, the most prominent European Union position ever to go to someone from an ex-communist country.
The 69-year-old Buzek, who was government leader a decade ago and a member of the Solidarity movement that overthrew communism in the 1980s, succeeds Germany’s Hans-Gert Poettering. Buzek belongs to the Christian Democrats, the assembly’s biggest faction, and will serve the first half of a new five-year term under a power-sharing arrangement with the Socialists, the second-largest group.
“This symbolizes the way Europe has grown together,” Martin Schulz, German leader of the Socialists, said of Buzek’s election today by the 27-nation legislature in Strasbourg, France. Buzek won 555 of the 644 valid votes cast.
Buzek takes over the Parliament five years after Poland led a group of eight eastern European countries into the EU and out of Russia’s geopolitical sphere. His election reflects Poland’s growing political stature as well as national jockeying over a slew of top EU jobs.
Governments are seeking heavyweight posts at the European Commission, the EU regulator of everything from competition and trade to agriculture and research, after endorsing Portugal’s Jose Barroso for a second five-year term as president there. They are also considering a president to represent them for a two-and-a-half-year stint, a post that would be created should the EU’s new governing treaty clear final ratification hurdles.
Public Opinion
The 736-seat EU Parliament decides on European laws along with national governments and acts as a check on the commission. The assembly also serves as a barometer of public opinion in Europe, the aspect most relevant to the president because that role is largely ceremonial.
Buzek was elected to the EU Parliament in 2004, served on its industry, energy and research committee and won re-election as a European lawmaker last month. He was Polish prime minister between 1997 and 2001, steering the country into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and towards EU membership.
Buzek was born on July 3, 1940 in Smilovice, then under German occupation and now part of the Czech Republic. He received a degree in chemical engineering from the Technical University of Silesia and worked as an academic before joining the Solidarity movement in 1980.
Buzek said his career has been driven by “the struggle for human rights” and one of the main challenges for an enlarged EU mired in the worst recession since World War II is to show tolerance.
“Let us not be afraid to understand each other,” he said. “We are in crisis.”
The EU Parliament shuttles every month between Strasbourg, which is the home for most plenary sessions, and Brussels, where other EU institutions are based and the assembly’s committees meet.
Strasbourg, located on the border with Germany, is a symbol of Franco-German reconciliation. It also reflects a traditional EU political balance of power that Poland’s accession in 2004 and Buzek’s election today are challenging.
Share | Email | Print | A A A
By Jonathan Stearns
July 14 (Bloomberg) -- The European Parliament chose former Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek as assembly president, the most prominent European Union position ever to go to someone from an ex-communist country.
The 69-year-old Buzek, who was government leader a decade ago and a member of the Solidarity movement that overthrew communism in the 1980s, succeeds Germany’s Hans-Gert Poettering. Buzek belongs to the Christian Democrats, the assembly’s biggest faction, and will serve the first half of a new five-year term under a power-sharing arrangement with the Socialists, the second-largest group.
“This symbolizes the way Europe has grown together,” Martin Schulz, German leader of the Socialists, said of Buzek’s election today by the 27-nation legislature in Strasbourg, France. Buzek won 555 of the 644 valid votes cast.
Buzek takes over the Parliament five years after Poland led a group of eight eastern European countries into the EU and out of Russia’s geopolitical sphere. His election reflects Poland’s growing political stature as well as national jockeying over a slew of top EU jobs.
Governments are seeking heavyweight posts at the European Commission, the EU regulator of everything from competition and trade to agriculture and research, after endorsing Portugal’s Jose Barroso for a second five-year term as president there. They are also considering a president to represent them for a two-and-a-half-year stint, a post that would be created should the EU’s new governing treaty clear final ratification hurdles.
Public Opinion
The 736-seat EU Parliament decides on European laws along with national governments and acts as a check on the commission. The assembly also serves as a barometer of public opinion in Europe, the aspect most relevant to the president because that role is largely ceremonial.
Buzek was elected to the EU Parliament in 2004, served on its industry, energy and research committee and won re-election as a European lawmaker last month. He was Polish prime minister between 1997 and 2001, steering the country into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and towards EU membership.
Buzek was born on July 3, 1940 in Smilovice, then under German occupation and now part of the Czech Republic. He received a degree in chemical engineering from the Technical University of Silesia and worked as an academic before joining the Solidarity movement in 1980.
Buzek said his career has been driven by “the struggle for human rights” and one of the main challenges for an enlarged EU mired in the worst recession since World War II is to show tolerance.
“Let us not be afraid to understand each other,” he said. “We are in crisis.”
The EU Parliament shuttles every month between Strasbourg, which is the home for most plenary sessions, and Brussels, where other EU institutions are based and the assembly’s committees meet.
Strasbourg, located on the border with Germany, is a symbol of Franco-German reconciliation. It also reflects a traditional EU political balance of power that Poland’s accession in 2004 and Buzek’s election today are challenging.