EU President

E.U. picks first full-time president
By Edward CodyWashington Post Foreign Service
Friday, November 20, 2009
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BRUSSELS -- Champions of European unity hoped their new president would be a continental George
Washington, a brand name who could pull the European Union closer together and fulfill their
dream of a strengthened role for Europe in world affairs.
But after weeks of backroom haggling and private international telephone conversations, the
presidents and prime ministers of the 27 E.U. nations on Thursday picked a little-known
politician, Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, as the union's first permanent president.
.........
It fell on the current president, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, to navigate the bloc
through what turned out to be a difficult decision on the full-time post.
........
With the field opened up, however, a raft of competing interests among the E.U. nations' leaders
complicated the negotiations, leading Reinfeldt to complain that he was having trouble getting
his colleagues to agree on anything in all the horse-trading. The balancing act included small
vs. large countries, left vs. right political leanings, and nations favoring unity vs. those
leery of integration.
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Reinfeldt spreekt over "horse-trading" >> in goed nederlands >> koehandel.

zie: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111903587.html?hpid=artslot

Champions of European unity hoped their new president would be a continental George
Washington, a brand name who could pull the European Union closer together and fulfill their
dream of a strengthened role for Europe in world affairs

Dit is een amerikaanse gedachte.
Hoeveel amerikanen, die er zo over denken, zullen zich een bult lachen?

ik denk dat het ook snerend bedoeld is. want ze weten best wel dat de
president een bindende figuur moet zijn, maar hij moet niet in de weg lopen.

in het verslag staat ook :
The choice of a conciliator, rather than a bold leader..............

benoemingen volgens de Volkskrant van 21-11-09 :

We zullen zien of deze man saamhorigheid (consensus) zal brengen?

Pangaea schreef:We zullen zien of deze man saamhorigheid (consensus) zal brengen?

voor van Rompuy geldt: behandel de staatshoofden met zachtheid.