Tuerk Says EU Should Look for President Candidates in all Members
President Danilo Tuerk told European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso that it was not good if the choice of the European Council president - a post envisaged by the Lisbon Treaty - was limited to only a few of the member countries, as the pair met in Brussels on Wednesday.
In certain debates the choice of the president was only limited to some countries and once people see this in the papers it is hard for them to believe that choosing the president is a transparent and democratic procedure, Tuerk added.
Tuerk added that it would be good if the candidates presented themselves and their vision to the public.
He believes that communication between candidates and the public is extremely important, however Europe is lagging behind in this regard.
Barroso said after the meeting that Slovenia's presidency of the EU that concluded less than a month ago was of extreme significance for him and that it was important that the country remained committed to the European idea.
Tuerk assured him that Slovenia remained committed to the EU and that during its stint as the bloc's president it had realised that the EU was a global actor. He added that everyone in the EU "should act as a part of this global actor all the time."
Replying to Barroso's question whether he thinks that the EU dealt too much with its internal issues, Tuerk said that all the matters that the EU dealt with - from climate change and energy safety to financial stability and prices of food and oil - were global.
He noted that a European approach was needed here, as even the biggest countries cannot address these challenges by themselves.
According to Barroso, he and Tuerk focused on millenium development goals and climate change. The pair agreed that development should be encouraged and that the EU should preserve a leading role in this.
Tuerk added that the millenium development goals would be on the agenda of the September UN General Assembly session. He noted that this was a very sensitive issue at the moment, since "we live in a time when high oil and food prices have created a special sensitivity and the feeling that progress in achieving the millenium goals can stop."
He also said that the EU was an important actor that enabled with its development aid that the millenium development goals be achieved also in the future.
Tuerk supports the idea that the EU allocate EUR 1bn of unspent funds for development of agriculture in developing countries, he however thinks that the bloc should not renounce its criteria regarding good management.
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