Hans-Gert Pöttering: Commissioners should be Experienced and Have a Good Relation with the European Parliament

In the EUROPE Gateway online discussion, the German MEP Hans-Gert Pöttering (EPP), former president of the European Parliament said: "Turkish membership is one thing, membership of countries, for instance on the Balkans, is another question. Before any enlargement we need the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty." He confirmed that the position of the governing Christian Democratic Union is in favour of a privileged partnership with Turkey and not in favour of a full membership. However the MEP expressed his hopes that Croatia would join the EU within the next two years.

The German politician said that he was an optimist and expected a positive outcome of the second referendum about the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland on October 2. Pöttering also expressed his hopes that Czech President Klaus would also sign the Treaty.

During the 30-minute online discussion the readers asked concrete questions regarding the choice of the new European Commission. Pöttering did not give any indications for the name of the new German Commissioner but explained that this was a matter of negotiations between the new coalition parties in Germany - the Christian Democratic Union and the liberals.

In regard with Bulgaria, the MEP stated that he could not express his opinion about our country's nomination because "we do not know her or him". Answering a question about the possible nomination of former MEP Minister of Foreign Affairs Rumiana Jeleva for Bulgarian Commissioner, he answered: "This would be a very good choice".

Pöttering defined the successful candidate for the top job: "Commissioners should be Experienced and Have a Good Relation with the European Parliament."

The German MEP, representative of the governing Christian Democratic Union (CDU) commented the results from the elections in Germany by saying that he was satisfied that there was a new government under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel. He explained that a government of Christian Democrats and Liberals was better than a grand coalition.

Learn details about the main points of the discussion here. See full script of the conversation with Hans-Gert Pöttering here (the text is in English).

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The online discussions are part of the Interacting with the European Parliament Project implemented by the European Institute, Centre for Policy Modernisation and Europe Gateway with the financial support of EP. Click here to learn more about the project. To learn more about the organizations implementing the project - click here . More about the online discussions so far - click here .