{"id":19181,"date":"2014-08-30T17:22:28","date_gmt":"2014-08-30T15:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/?p=19181"},"modified":"2014-08-30T23:19:47","modified_gmt":"2014-08-30T21:19:47","slug":"gender-balance-on-eu-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/gender-balance-on-eu-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"Gender Balance on EU Commission"},"content":{"rendered":"

The EU member states are meeting to pick a new President and Foreign Minister. \u00a0Frederica Mogherini the possible pick to be Foreign MInister, is thought by some to be too close to Russia. \u00a0If Donald Tusk, President of Poland, is chosen as President, this may assuage fears. \u00a0Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, made comments about the gender balance of the next Commission: \u201cif there are fewer women elected to Commission than the current nine, there is a risk of receiving not enough support in the European Parliament.\u201d Schulz also said he is a \u201cMogherini-fan\u201d. \u201cI know her very well and she is experienced enough for the job [of High Representative].\u201d \u00a0Biography<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Frederica<\/a><\/p>\n

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Update: \u00a0Tusk and Mogherini Get the EU Jobs:<\/p>\n

Donald Tusk\u00a0is to leave the prime ministership of Poland to become president of the European Council in succession to Herman Van Rompuy. \u00a0His appointment balances the choice of Federica Mogherini, Italy\u2019s foreign minister, as the European Union\u2019s high representative for foreign policy. The decisions were announced by Van Rompuy, who said that they had \u201cthe full support of all\u201d members of the European Council.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have the full endorsement of the European Council and this full endorsement was very important to me,\u201d said Van Rompuy, adding that he had spoken several times to each government leader \u201cto make sure we made the right choice\u201d.<\/p>\n

The announcement came two and a half hours into an EU summit that was convened specifically to discuss the appointments \u2013 after\u00a0Van Rompuy\u00a0deemed the matter not ripe for decision at an earlier\u00a0summit on\u00a016 July. Agreement on Tusk and Mogherini was apparently painless, and the greater work of the summit may prove to be discussion of how to respond to Russia\u2019s incursions into Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Tusk, who has been prime minister since 2007, will take up his EU post on 1 December for a two-and-a-half year term. Mogherini will take up her post \u2013 which also includes a vice-presidency of the European Commission \u2013 when the new Commission to be led by Jean-Claude Juncker takes up office, which is scheduled to be on 1 November for a five-year term.<\/p>\n

At a press conference at which Van Rompuy presented the two anointed EU leaders\u00a0to\u00a0the television cameras, Tusk addressed directly questions about whether he has the linguistic skills necessary for the Council presidency, announcing (in English) that for the moment\u00a0he would\u00a0answer questions in\u00a0Polish, but\u00a0in December he would speak in English.\u00a0\u201cNothing is good enough for Europe \u2013 including my English. I will polish my English. I will be ready in December \u2013 100%.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mogherini was questioned about the charges that she lacked experience and that her candidacy had been\u00a0supported by Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. She rejected the first charge, responding that she was the foreign minister of a G7 country and that she had been involved in European and foreign affairs for 20 years. She stressed her experience of parliamentary institutions and of politics.<\/p>\n

On alleged sympathy towards Russia, she said that her first trip abroad after Italy took on the presidency of the EU\u2019s Council of Ministers had been to Kiev. After two days there, she had gone on to Moscow. She had been trying, she said, \u201cto co-ordinate efforts to facilitate a form of dialogue\u201d.\u00a0Tusk said he was confident that he and\u00a0Mogherini would work well together. \u201cI am very serene about our co-operation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Van Rompuy, in his opening remarks, had identified three\u00a0challenges that the new leaders of the EU would have to address: the EU\u2019s stagnant economic performance; the Ukraine-Russia crisis; and \u201cBritain\u2019s place in Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tusk picked up this reference\u00a0to the UK, saying that he had discussed with Prime Minister David Cameron his ideas for reform of the EU.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo reasonable person can imagine the EU without the UK and I cannot imagine it myself,\u201d he said. He also stressed that he did not want divisions to open up between the eurozone and the rest of the EU.\u00a0As well as being president of the European Council, Tusk will\u00a0be president of the euro summit \u2013 the meetings of government leaders\u00a0 of the eurozone \u2013 a post that was given formal recognition by the 2012 fiscal compact treaty. Such eurozone summits are to happen twice a year and some meetings may be attended by all countries that are signatories to the fiscal compact treaty (currently 25 member states). That Tusk comes from a country that does not belong to the eurozone\u00a0was not a barrier\u00a0to his taking the euro summit presidency,\u00a0despite some earlier objections from France.<\/p>\n

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The EU member states are meeting to pick a new President and Foreign Minister. \u00a0Frederica Mogherini the possible pick to be Foreign MInister, is thought by some to be too close to Russia. \u00a0If Donald Tusk, President of Poland, is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-finance","category-w-t-w"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t