Conservatives Torn Between Jerzy Buzek and Mario Mauro Juncker On
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INFORMAL TRANSPORT COUNCIL HEALTH COUNCIL INTERVIEW Ministers want interoperable Mexican flu: EU ponders Enlargement Commissioner intelligent transport systems Page 5 travel ban Page 10 Olli Rehn Page 24 EUROPOLITICS The European affairs daily Monday 4 May 2009 N° 3745 37th year FOCUS EPP Conservatives torn between Juncker on his Jerzy Buzek and Mario Mauro way out? By Célia Sampol in Warsaw and the PES, decide in June to conclude another agreement for sharing the EP The Eurogroup President, Luxembourg’s The Pole Jerzy Buzek or the Italian presidency, as they did for the 2004-2009 Jean-Claude Juncker, could give up his Mario Mauro? The European People’s legislative period, the Conservatives are position after the legislative elections Party (EPP), holding its congress in expected to take the first turn this time. in June, announced a spokesman, who Warsaw, on 29 and 30 April, decided The Socialists took the first round rejected any connection with Franco- to await the outcome of the European during the present period, with Spain’s German criticisms of Luxembourg’s elections, on 4 to 7 June, to choose the Josep Borrell in command from July banking secrecy. Juncker is currently name of the likely next president of the 2004 to December 2006, followed by prime minister and finance minister of European Parliament. German Conservative Hans-Gert Pötter- Luxembourg and has headed the Euro- Many of the MEPs questioned in the ing, from January 2007 to June 2009. group since 2005. “He advised his part- corridors of the Palace of Culture and ners, in September 2008 in Nice, at the Science, a symbolic setting in the heart AVOIDING A VOTE informal Ecofin summit when he was of the Polish capital, preferred not to For the next assembly, there is already re-elected to the Eurogroup presidency forecast the results, saying “7 June is not talk of a ticket made up of Jerzy Buzek for a third term, that there would be leg- behind us yet”. (EPP-ED, Poland) and Martin Schulz islative elections in June 2009 in Luxem- Yet, the bargaining has already begun. (PES, Germany). Buzek is from the bourg,” his spokesman told the French If the two largest groups, the EPP-ED Civic Platform, (continued on page 9) news agency AFP. “The election means he cannot guarantee that he will be in a position to complete his Eurogroup term because he cannot be certain of being the finance minister in the next government,” he added. The spokesman reacted to an article published in the Handelsblatt, quot- ing diplomatic sources in Brussels to the effect that Juncker was considering stepping down from the Eurogroup pres- idency because he was fed up with the incessant conflicts with the French and German governments, especially over banking secrecy. Juncker had criticised the fact that this subject was discussed at the G20, where his country is not © Belga-AFP © Belga-AFP represented, unlike France and Germany. 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Rue d’Arlon 53 / B-1040 Brussels or by fax to: +32 (0)2 732 67 57 AP08 EUROPOLITICS N° 3745 Monday 4 May 2009 3 Contents N° 3745 Top Stories INFORMAL TRANSPORT COUNCIL HEALTH COUNCIL INTERVIEW Ministers want interoperable Mexican flu: EU ponders Enlargement Commissioner intelligent transport systems Page 5 travel ban Page 10 Olli Rehn Page 24 Business & competitiveness EPP: Conservatives torn between In Brief Competition: Report highlights Jerzy Buzek and Mario Mauro ...............1 Belgium and Denmark open labour usefulness of anti-trust regulation ..........4 markets ..................................................14 Social affairs European inventors of the year.............14 Financial services, banks, Health Council: Mexican flu: L’état de l’Union ...................................15 insurance EU ponders travel ban .........................10 Inflation stays at low point ....................15 Banking: Coreper agrees on Slovak support scheme approved .........15 5% capital retention ................................4 Economic & monetary affairs, Priority gas pipeline taxation project suspended .................................15 Sectoral policies Economy: EU indicators Finnish support scheme Informal Transport Council: rebound from March lows ....................11 for banks cleared ...................................15 Ministers want interoperable Unemployment: EU jobless No EU-GCC trade agreement ............15 intelligent transport systems ...................5 total tops 20 million ..............................11 Lamy re-elected as head of WTO.........15 Research: Positive progress report for 7th framework programme ................5 Defence & security People .................................................16 Agriculture: Flu epidemic Arms transfers: Report singles out worries ailing pork sector ........................6 absence of post-export controls .............12 EU Agenda ..........................................17 Geographical indications: EU EUNAVFOR