AP, Brussels :
German Chancellor Angela Merkel threw her weight behind Donald Tusk to retain one of the European Union’s top jobs ahead of an EU summit Thursday, despite staunch opposition from his home country of Poland.
The 28 EU leaders are due to decide as their summit starts in Brussels Thursday on who will be president of the EU Council for the next 2½ years. It is one of the bloc’s most prestigious jobs, and involves chairing summits and coordinating the work of the member countries.
Poland’s nationalist government has proposed little-known Polish EU lawmaker Jacek Saryusz-Wolski to replace Tusk – a former prime minister who has a long and bitter rivalry with the leader of Poland’s current governing party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Diplomats from several member nations say Warsaw has little or no support, while Tusk has strong backing. Merkel offered Tusk public support in a pre-summit speech to lawmakers in Berlin.”I see the re-election of Donald Tusk as a sign of stability for the entire EU,” she said.
Malta, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, will be looking right up to the beginning of the summit for a way to preserve the consensus and have everyone back one candidate. However, it appears likely that the matter will go to a vote, with Tusk being re-elected by an overwhelming majority.
Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said Thursday that Poland will do everything it can to block a vote.
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday that Germany and Turkey had many ties such as NATO membership and their joint fight against Islamic terrorism but differences had come to the fore recently and everything should be done to resolve that.
“There are on the one hand many common European-Turkish interests and on the other hand there are profound differences between the European Union and Turkey and between Germany and Turkey – and we’re feeling that again these days,” Merkel told the Bundestag lower house of parliament.
“From our point of view it’s worth making every endeavor to advocate for German-Turkish relations but on the basis of our values and our expectations and with clarity,” she said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel threw her weight behind Donald Tusk to retain one of the European Union’s top jobs ahead of an EU summit Thursday, despite staunch opposition from his home country of Poland.
The 28 EU leaders are due to decide as their summit starts in Brussels Thursday on who will be president of the EU Council for the next 2½ years. It is one of the bloc’s most prestigious jobs, and involves chairing summits and coordinating the work of the member countries.
Poland’s nationalist government has proposed little-known Polish EU lawmaker Jacek Saryusz-Wolski to replace Tusk – a former prime minister who has a long and bitter rivalry with the leader of Poland’s current governing party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Diplomats from several member nations say Warsaw has little or no support, while Tusk has strong backing. Merkel offered Tusk public support in a pre-summit speech to lawmakers in Berlin.”I see the re-election of Donald Tusk as a sign of stability for the entire EU,” she said.
Malta, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, will be looking right up to the beginning of the summit for a way to preserve the consensus and have everyone back one candidate. However, it appears likely that the matter will go to a vote, with Tusk being re-elected by an overwhelming majority.
Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said Thursday that Poland will do everything it can to block a vote.
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday that Germany and Turkey had many ties such as NATO membership and their joint fight against Islamic terrorism but differences had come to the fore recently and everything should be done to resolve that.
“There are on the one hand many common European-Turkish interests and on the other hand there are profound differences between the European Union and Turkey and between Germany and Turkey – and we’re feeling that again these days,” Merkel told the Bundestag lower house of parliament.
“From our point of view it’s worth making every endeavor to advocate for German-Turkish relations but on the basis of our values and our expectations and with clarity,” she said.
