EUROPEAN VOICE: Van Rompuy says he will assume new job with conviction and enthusiasm.
Herman Van Rompuy, Belgium's reluctant prime minister, portrayed himself this evening as Europe's reluctant president. “I have not sought this post or worked for it, but I assume it with conviction and enthusiasm,” he said.
He stressed that he would continue with the consensual style that had been his hallmark in Belgian politics and which brought him to the prime minister's post at the end of last year.
“Every country should emerge victorious from negotiations,” he said. “A negotiation that ends with a defeated country is never a good negotiation.”
“We are living in a period of anguish and anxiety and lack of confidence,” he said, after highlighting the economic, environmental and security problems. He said that now that the Lisbon treaty was ratified, the issue of institutional reform was “closed for a long time”.
But Van Rompuy stressed that the presidents of the EU's three main institutions – the Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission – must work together, respectfully.
He said that he looked forward to the enlargement of the EU in the next two and a half years, to include “countries that of course meet conditions”. Asked his views on the admission of Turkey to the EU, he said that he would not be representing his own views but those of the 27 member states. “My personal opinion is totally subordinate to the views of the Council,” he said.
He said that, after consultation with Fredrik Reinfeldt, Sweden's prime minister, who currently holds the chair of the European Council, he would remain prime minister of Belgium until the end of the year and not take up his EU office until 1 January. Surprise >>> Tim King | Thursday, November 19, 2009
EUROPEAN VOICE: The Belgian who will lead the EU >>> Andrew Gardner | Thursday, November 19, 2009
