Vaira Vike-Freiberga president?

For Jean Quatremer on the Coulisses de Bruxelles blog, prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker from Luxembourg remains the preferred candidate because of his firm and long European engagement.



This is in line with the assessment I have expressed on this blog: “If the heads of government or state are looking for a president of the European Council with experience and engagement in EU affairs, regardless of geography and gender, Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg, will win hands down.”



The merits of Juncker were succinctly put by the speaker of the German parliament, Norbert Lammert (AFP, 13 November 2009).


Vaira Vike-Freiberga


If the new president of the European Council, created under the Lisbon Treaty, is chosen on other criteria than personal merits in European affairs, Quatremer comes out in favour of Latvia’s former president, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, as a woman from a new EU member state; in Vaira Vike Freiberga for president! Yes, they can! (16 November 2009):

« Je n’ai qu’un mot d’ordre désormais : à défaut de Jean-Claude Juncker (qui reste mon candidat de cœur par la fermeté et la durée de son engagement européen), Vaira Vike-Freiberga présidente! Et qui plus est une femme d'un nouvel Etat membre de l'Est, dont le pays n'a recouvré son existence que depuis vingt ans, voilà qui aurait de l'allure. »

Yes, if we evaluate external criteria, the new EU member states in Central Europe and gender balance are important, in my view, complementary to European engagement and political profile.



Despite the scope for skewed results and manipulation, the Fondation Robert Schuman poll between five potential candidates is an indication of the preferences among EU citizens. A short while ago, the number of votes had risen to 16,526 (almost 8,000 new votes in about three days) and the only woman, Vike-Freiberga, had an overwhelming lead, with 62 per cent of the votes, followed by Juncker on 18 per cent.


If you haven’t participated, you can still express your opinion. The candidates are (in alphabetical order):

Jan Peter Balkenende

Tony Blair

Jean-Claude Juncker

Herman Van Rompuy

Vaira Vike-Freiberga


I still prefer Jean-Claude Juncker for his European experience and engagement, but I admit that the continuing integration of the EU member states in Central Europe and improving the gender balance in the institutions of the European Union are important considerations.

Vaira Vike-Freiberga as the first president of the European Council could signal further integration and emancipation, but her acts and visions in EU affairs have not been scrutinised closely enough. There is still some journalistic work to be done on that front.




Ralf Grahn



P.S. Do you find EUSSR myths fascinating? Are we EU citizens worth a better European Union? Read the Euroblogs aggregated on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, and discuss our common European future.

Gender balanced Commission

It is difficult to contemplate the new EU Commission for five years with fewer women than at present. A better gender balance should evolve naturally, without forcing matters, but the known nominations by the member states put this development at risk.



Jon Worth, Maria Weimer, Eurosocialiste, Julien Frisch and other eurobloggers have started the Gender balanced Commission petition and web site.

The goal is modest: at least one woman Commissioner more, which means at least one third of the next Commission.

Sign the petition and spread the word. You can propose realistic candidates to achieve the objective.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Do you find EUSSR myths fascinating? Are we EU citizens worth a better European Union? Read the Euroblogs aggregated on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, and discuss our common European future.

European elections: A snapshot of gender equality and democratic choice

The European Parliament has not yet published the 2009 gender distribution of the elected MEPs. After the 2004 European elections 31 per cent of MEPs were women.

The election result in Finland will shift the balance to a degree: eight women (about 61%) and five men were elected out of a total of 13 MEPs.

If there is anything remarkable about the result, it is the fact that it is based on the individual choices of voters. Each citizen votes for an individual candidate, on a party list. The lists function as teams, being awarded proportional representation according to their total number of votes. Within the list the order of the candidates is determined by their individual votes.

This means that the outcome is not based on quotas, or closed lists manipulated in a politically correct manner. They reflect the choices of the individual electors.

Besides, the electoral system allows the voter to assess all the qualities of a candidate, of which gender is but one.

In Finland, with a population of 5.3 million, the whole country was one electoral district, so each voter was able to select among all the available candidates (241 representing 13 parties).

Elections are democratic, but some systems are more democratic than others.


Ralf Grahn