whodoicall.eu

A new website has been launched with an online petition, calling for at least one woman to be nominated for one of the top four EU positions up for grabs in 2009 - Commission President, European Council President, High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, and President of the European Parliament (not sure why the latter is in there – it doesn’t have the standing of the others). This line argued for previously by Margot Wallström, while this campaign is run by Danish Social Democrat MEP Christel Schaldemose. The website for the campaign is rudimentary at the moment, but they claim to have more than 700 signatures already.

When Jan Seifert and I first discussed the idea of One President and launching this website, we had one primary aim in mind: to change the debate about the EU’s top jobs in some small way. Today the first mainstream media – International Herald Tribune – has covered our campaign with quotes and a link to whodoicall.eu in an article entitled ‘The leader of Europe? Answers an ocean apart‘. I’m not entirely convinced that the argument for One President is clear in what is written, but today marks an important step forward for our initiative.

The French Minister for European Affairs, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, answers questions in Le Monde yesterday about the nominations for the EU top positions. He underlines the need for renewal and calls for new personalities in the top positions at the same time as he says that he would like to see someone like Jacques Delors.

But, let’s face it, there is no one like Delors among the viable candidates. The focus should be on creating a clarity, authority and democratic accountability for the position rather than the personality that could possibly bring these things.

In an article entitled Future Face of European Union Plagued by Uncertainty Deutsche Welle tries to explain need to create a President of the EU. The article even quotes Kissinger, so they might have the right idea about needing someone to call. However – shockingly – the article completely fails to mention the President of the European Commission, a post that has already existed since 1957. Further, the Commission President will be elected in 2009 by the European Parliament and is vested with more powers and legitimacy than the new position of President of the European Council, the subject of Deutsche Welle’s article.