Sweden's prime minister, the current chair of EU summits, says he is half-way through consultations to determine a shortlist for the new EU top jobs. Fredrik Reinfeldt said he expected to be ready soon to call a special EU summit to appoint the permanent EU president and foreign policy chief. The Belgian Prime Minister, Herman van Rompuy, has emerged as a frontrunner for the post of EU president.
Fredrik Reinfeldt said he expected to be ready soon to call a special EU summit to appoint the permanent EU president and foreign policy chief.
The Belgian Prime Minister, Herman van Rompuy, has emerged as a frontrunner for the post of EU president.
Poland has made a bid to give smaller EU countries more power in the EU president selection process by calling for candidates to hold job interviews in front of the 27 EU leaders. "It is proposed that the election of the future President of the European Council is preceded by a discussion of the Heads of State or Government of the Member States during which the candidates would present their vision of how their tasks would be conducted," Warsaw has said in a fresh position paper seen by EUobserver. The appointment of the new EU foreign relations chief should follow the same format, but with the 27 EU foreign ministers also brought in to the chamber.
"It is proposed that the election of the future President of the European Council is preceded by a discussion of the Heads of State or Government of the Member States during which the candidates would present their vision of how their tasks would be conducted," Warsaw has said in a fresh position paper seen by EUobserver.
The appointment of the new EU foreign relations chief should follow the same format, but with the 27 EU foreign ministers also brought in to the chamber.
The Czech government has nominated its serving minister for European affairs, Štefan Füle, to be the country's next European commissioner. Füle emerged today as the only name acceptable to the country's two leading parties after a process of jockeying and negotiations that had lasted months. Füle, who is 47, has been in his post since May, when a caretaker government of non-politicians was formed after the collapse of a government led by Mirek Topolánek, leader of the Civic Democrats.
Füle emerged today as the only name acceptable to the country's two leading parties after a process of jockeying and negotiations that had lasted months.
Füle, who is 47, has been in his post since May, when a caretaker government of non-politicians was formed after the collapse of a government led by Mirek Topolánek, leader of the Civic Democrats.
Romanian MEP Adrian Severin and former Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema have emerged as frontrunners for the new EU foreign minister job to be created by the Lisbon Treaty, EurActiv has learned. But the pair is facing difficulties with their candidacies at home and abroad respectively. Following UK foreign minister David Miliband's unequivocal refusal (EurActiv 09/11/09), the EU centre-left has now turned its attention to its remaining "shortlist" of candidates for the job of High Representative for foreign policy, to be created by the Lisbon Treaty. Some socialists, speaking off the record to EurActiv, believe the battle is now effectively a two-horse race between Romanian MEP Adrian Severin and former Italian foreign minister Massimo D'Alema.
Following UK foreign minister David Miliband's unequivocal refusal (EurActiv 09/11/09), the EU centre-left has now turned its attention to its remaining "shortlist" of candidates for the job of High Representative for foreign policy, to be created by the Lisbon Treaty.
Some socialists, speaking off the record to EurActiv, believe the battle is now effectively a two-horse race between Romanian MEP Adrian Severin and former Italian foreign minister Massimo D'Alema.
Massimo D'Alema (born April 20, 1949[1]) is an Italian politician. He is also a journalist and a former national secretary of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS). He was Prime Minister from 1998 to 2000, and later he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2008.
Adrian Severin:
Adrian Severin (born 28 March 1954 in Bucharest) is a Romanian politician and Member of the European Parliament. A former member of the National Salvation Front and the Democratic Party (which he left in April 1999), Severin was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania between 12 December 1996 and 29 December 1997, as part of the Victor Ciorbea cabinet. He sat in the Chamber of Deputies in June-July 1990 before resigning, and again was a member of that body from 1992 until December 2007, when he resigned. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party, part of the Group of the Party of European Socialists, and became an MEP on 1 January 2007 with the accession of Romania to the European Union. Severin served as the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Belarus from 2005 to 2006. He was member of PACE from 1993 till 1997 and from 2003 till 2007.[1]
A former member of the National Salvation Front and the Democratic Party (which he left in April 1999), Severin was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania between 12 December 1996 and 29 December 1997, as part of the Victor Ciorbea cabinet. He sat in the Chamber of Deputies in June-July 1990 before resigning, and again was a member of that body from 1992 until December 2007, when he resigned.
He is a member of the Social Democratic Party, part of the Group of the Party of European Socialists, and became an MEP on 1 January 2007 with the accession of Romania to the European Union.
Severin served as the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Belarus from 2005 to 2006. He was member of PACE from 1993 till 1997 and from 2003 till 2007.[1]
The European Union is calling a special summit on Nov. 19 to choose the bloc's first president, a foreign policy chief and secretary general, the Swedish government said. "It is hoped that at the summit, agreement can be reached on the appointment of the three new EU posts regulated in the Treaty of Lisbon," said a statement on the Web site of the Swedish EU presidency. The statement didn't name any candidates for the posts to be discussed at the summit in Brussels. "There are quite a few names," Roberta Alenius, a Swedish government spokeswoman said in an interview. "There's no self- evident consensus around one name." She said Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, will hold a second round of consultations with the 27-nation bloc's leaders on filling the posts before the summit.
The European Union is calling a special summit on Nov. 19 to choose the bloc's first president, a foreign policy chief and secretary general, the Swedish government said.
"It is hoped that at the summit, agreement can be reached on the appointment of the three new EU posts regulated in the Treaty of Lisbon," said a statement on the Web site of the Swedish EU presidency. The statement didn't name any candidates for the posts to be discussed at the summit in Brussels.
"There are quite a few names," Roberta Alenius, a Swedish government spokeswoman said in an interview. "There's no self- evident consensus around one name." She said Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, will hold a second round of consultations with the 27-nation bloc's leaders on filling the posts before the summit.
Ideally we'd send some photogenic people to Brussels to hand in the list to someone appropriate. Don't know if that's possible.
