NYTimes: Lisbon Treaty, Vote Clears Path for E.U. President - by Steven Castle and Stevan Erlanger

For the complete report from the NYTimes.com click on this link

Lisbon Treaty, Vote Clears Path for E.U. President - by Steven Castle and Stevan Erlanger

he Irish vote to ratify the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty has finally cleared the way for the arrival of a powerful new president, intended to bolster the 27-nation union’s standing on the global stage. A difficult discussion lies ahead about how much power and influence the new E.U. president should have and whether it should fall to a political star — like former Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain — or one of his grayer, more technocratic rivals. The leaders of member states will decide, probably this month, and their decision could determine whether the union really seeks the bigger global role it says it needs to try to match the influence of the United States and of rising powers like Brazil. China, India and Russia. There would also be greater powers for the European Parliament, the only popularly elected E.U. institution, an effort to improve democratic accountability.

Note EU-Digest: The Democratic way to elect a President would be to have free and open universal elections involving several candidates with different political viewpoints and providing every EU citizen the opportunity to vote for the candidate of their choice. This would not only be a the correct democratic way to provide more interaction between all the citizens of the EU, but it would also make the EU governing mechanism more transparent and credible. An appointed President is basically a marionette with absolutely no power. We have all waited a long time to finally approve the Lisbon treaty. What is needed now is to have a more visionary approach to make this political experiment called the EU a long term success. We certainly do not need a "politbureau" telling the EU citizens what is right for them.