A woman at the head of Europe, tomorrow!
The whole of Brussels is thinking about the future names at the head of Europe. The profiles and conditions are sketched out.
(B2) According to diplomats, the future President of Europe can only come from a small or medium-sized Member State. " Member state. Exit therefore the candidacy of Tony Blair put forward by Nicolas Sarkozy.
The High Representative in charge of external relations must, among other qualities, be "NATO-Compatible". Moving on to the European Commission, he effectively retains the upper hand over the Union's politico-military action; full cooperation with NATO was a condition set by several countries, such as the United Kingdom and Portugal. It cannot be a National of a country having a seat on the Security Council (French or British). Which (re)gives all chances to Javier Solana for a renewed being or to… another national! A German for example?
Angela Merkel wants the Germans to return to leading positions, at the Commission for example. As for France, if it is not officially a candidate for any position, this modesty aims, in fact, to recover the general secretariat of the Council. This discreet post, but one of growing importance with the successive enlargements to small countries, will be vacant in 2009 and the Frenchman Pierre de Boissieu, loyal Deputy Secretary General, could be a “useful” candidate.
Women excluded! The only missing piece to this puzzle: gender equality. None of the main institutions or bodies of the European Union is currently headed by a woman. Commission, Parliament, Council, Foreign Affairs, Court of Justice, Central Bank, Court of Auditors, Economic and Social Committee, Committee of the Regions... are all chaired by a man. Extraordinary ! And none of the names put forward in the "conversations" in Brussels evoke a woman.
