European Parliament gets its first Polish president (Roundup)

Jul 14, 2009, 11:33 GMT

Strasbourg, France - The European Parliament on Tuesday elected its first president from a former-Communist member state as the 736-seat legislature gave an overwhelming majority of votes to Poland's former conservative premier Jerzy Buzek, 69.

Buzek received 555 out of a total of 713 votes cast, according to official results. His only challenger, Swedish environmentalist Eva- Britt Svensson, received 89 votes.

The vote is highly symbolic, as it marks the first time that a citizen of one of the EU's new member states, which spent much of the 20th century behind the Iron Curtain, has been appointed to one of the bloc's permanent presidencies.

'Twenty years after the fall of the (Berlin) Wall, the election of a president from Poland symbolizes the fact that Europe has come together again,' the leader of the parliament's socialist bloc, Martin Schulz, said.

Green politician Rebecca Harms also hailed the vote, telling Buzek, 'We greatly hope that you will be able to strengthen the bridges between East and West (Europe) in the next two and a half years.'

But it comes at a time of increasing concern over the level of interest shown in the parliament by EU voters. Turnout at the elections on June 4-7 was just 43 per cent, the lowest in history.

'The most difficult crisis which we must overcome is the lack of our citizens' trust,' Buzek said in a brief speech after the vote.

Buzek said that one of the EU's priorities over the next five years should be to strengthen ties with rising powers such as India and China and established powers such as the US.

And he stressed that the bloc should bring into force the stalled Lisbon Treaty, which is to be the subject of a referendum in Ireland on October 2. The parliament is set to gain considerable powers if the treaty can be brought into effect.

Buzek's victory had already been assured after the parliament's conservative, socialist and liberal groupings, who together control 533 seats, agreed to appoint him for the first 30 months of the 2009- 14 session.

Under a deal made by the three main parliamentary groups after the June elections, the presidency of the parliament will be handed to a member appointed by the socialist bloc at the end of 2011, the statement said.

The initial indications are that the post will go to Schulz, a veteran German socialist renowned for his trenchant debating skills.

Buzek, a chemical engineer by training, headed Poland's centre- right government from 1997 to 2001, bringing in reforms to the pension, education and health systems. He was elected to the European Parliament in 2004 with a record number of votes.