| Edition No. 03 | 17/08/2009 |
Jerzy Buzek elected President of the European Parliament President Buzek is the first President of the European Parliament to come from Central and Eastern Europe  Jerzy Buzek (Photo: European Parliament)
On July 14,
Polish centre-right MEP Jerzy Buzek was elected as President of the European
parliament following a secret ballot held in the plenary chamber of the
Strasbourg-based parliament. With 555 votes in favour (or 86.18 per cent of the
valid votes) President Buzek was elected after the first-round of voting. The
69-year-old Polish MEP will lead the European Parliament for two and a half
years (until January 2012). President Buzek is the first President of the
European Parliament to come from Central and Eastern Europe following the EU's
enlargement in 2004. He replaces the outgoing President Hans-Gert
Pöttering. In a brief address to the European Parliament immediately after the vote, Mr Buzek described his election as "an enormous challenge and a great honour". Referring to the message of "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity", championed by the French Revolution whose anniversary was commemorated on July 14, France's national day, the newly elected president said "all three of those words ring out in the European Union" today. Once his ambition had been to be a member of parliament in a free Poland, but now he was President of the European Parliament. He saw this as "a measure of how Europe can change". He also regarded his election as "symbolic" for the other central and eastern European countries who joined the EU in 2004 and as "a tribute to the millions of people who didn't bow to a hostile system". "There is now no 'you' and 'us': we live in a shared Europe", he said. Looking ahead to the challenges facing the EU, such as unemployment, energy security and climate change, Mr Buzek stressed that "we first need the Lisbon Treaty so that the Union can be well-organised and effective". He concluded by paying tribute to his predecessor as EP President, Hans-Gert Pöttering. Mr Buzek – a scientist by training - was elected to the European Parliament in 2004 and subsequently served on the industry, energy and research committees. Between 1997-2001 he served as Polish prime minister and was greatly involved in steering the country towards joining the EU. President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso congratulated Mr. Buzek both personally and behalf of the whole Commission. Mr. Barroso said that that Mr. Buzek was "the ideal candidate given the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall and the fifth anniversary of the EU's enlargement to Central and Eastern Europe". Mr Barroso said he looked forward to working with him to build "a more powerful Europe based on solidarity". For comprehensive information on the European Parliament http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ |
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