Nieuwe baas van het EP wil niet buigen voor druk van grote lidstaten (en)

(UPDATED 16.01.2007 - 15:12 CET) EUOBSERVER / STRASBOURG - German Christian democrat Hans-Gert Poettering, elected as the new European Parliament president today, has pledged to stand up to pressure by big member states - after his predecessor warned of a growing trend towards intergovernmentalism in Europe.

MEPs picked their new president on Tuesday (16 January), with Mr Poettering winning the plenary vote in the first round by an absolute majority of 450 votes. With 715 MEPs voting, he needed 345 votes to get through.

Greens' co-chairwoman Monica Frassoni came second with 145 votes, followed by the leftist GUE/NGE group chief Francis Wurtz (48 votes) and Danish eurosceptic Jens-Peter Bonde (46 votes), running on behalf of a cross-party "Fair chair" campaign.

Speaking in a Strasbourg debate on the eve of the election, Mr Poettering - a "simple member" as he dubbed himself after resigning from the centre-right EPP-ED chair - highlighted that he was the only candidate not running as a group leader.

He would be "least bound by a political office" and if elected, he would "make every effort to be fair and objective president of all MEPs."

The socialists agreed to back the centre-right nominee after a 2004 deal which saw conservative MEPs support their socialist candidate Josep Borrell who has stepped down as president ahead of today's vote.

In his farewell speech to the Strasbourg plenary, Mr Borrell suggested that his successor should "remain vigilant" and prevent a deterioration of the parliament's influence just after it finally deprived itself of a "paper tiger" image and boosted its political power.

"I should express my concerns that the current drift towards an intergovernmental approach of the European Union could lead to a decrease in role of the European Parliament in future. You will have to ensure that this doesn't happen," he said.

For his part, Mr Poettering has been promoting his presidency bid by suggesting precisely the opposite. As a Christian democrat ally of German chancellor Angela Merkel, the current EU president, he hopes to boost influence of the European Parliament by working through his contacts in Berlin.

But he argued on Tuesday, "just because Mrs Merkel is in my party doesn't mean I'm in for anything she says," while stressing that he has been a "deep believer" in a communitarian approach in the EU rather than just in a cooperation between national governments.

EU birthday statement and constitution

Politically speaking, there are two key issues - both expected during the German presidency in the first half of the year - in which Mr Poettering hopes the parliament can be actively involved in.

The first is the more formal - the EU's 50th birthday declaration which he argued should "clearly express the union's commitments to reforms", while the second initiative concerns the forthcoming talks on how to revive the EU constitution - put on ice after it was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

"We need reforms but also values and I'll fight for both," Mr Poettering pointed out, adding that the core of the EU constitution - including the chapter on its values - should survive the editing process of the treaty.

But the Greens' co-leader Monica Frassoni argued that she expected the parliament to be just a silent observer in these talks, waiting for "the miracle German presidency to come up with a miracle solution."

Mr Poettering countered that the parliament would send its own representative to participate in the talks and he himself - if elected - would do his best to ensure that MEPs' voices are heard.