Two from the same country?

The WhoDoICall blog discusses an entry by Richard Corbett on the possible choice of two Rasmussens from Denmark for EU top posts:

http://www.whodoicall.eu/blog/

It is difficult to imagine that two out of three top jobs would land with citizens of the same member state, if the European Council does not merge the two presidencies, as proposed by the ‘Who do I call?’ initiative.

This is what Declaration number 6 on Article 9 B(5) and (6), Article 9 D(6) and (7) and
Article 9 E of the Treaty on European Union says:

In choosing the persons called upon to hold the offices of President of the European Council, President of the Commission and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, due account is to be taken of the need to respect the geographical and demographic diversity of the Union and its Member States.

***

To date, the European leaders have spoken publicly only of geographical and demographic diversity, leaving out other factors such as gender and democratic legitimacy.

In spite of the popularity of name dropping, I would want to see more discussion on the fundamentals, as proposed again in my post ‘Heavyweight president for European Council?’ two days ago.

Let us hope that the debate turns a bit more serious, and that European leaders show that their thinking can evolve.


Ralf Grahn