Martin Schulz elected new president of the European Parliament

[News_Editor]

Martin Schulz elected new president of the European Parliament

2012-01-19 04:02:01 GMT+7 (ICT)

BRUSSELS (BNO NEWS) -- Martin Schulz was elected as the new president of the European Parliament on Tuesday, receiving almost 58 percent of the votes. He will replace Jerzy Buzek.

The 56-year old German Member of the European Parliament (MEP) replaced the outgoing President Jerzy Buzek of Poland and will lead the parliament for two and half years until the beginning of the next legislature in July 2014.

"We must grasp the fact that people in Europe have little time for institutional debates because they are too busy worrying about their future, their jobs, their pensions," Schulz stated in Strasbourg following the vote. "This Chamber is the place where the interests of the people are defended."

Schulz received a total of 387 votes, more than the 336 votes needed to win an absolute majority under the Parliament's Rules of Procedure.

President Schulz also warned that "for the first time since it was founded, the failure of the European Union is a realistic possibility", adding that "our interests can no longer be separated from those of our neighbors; on a shared understanding that the EU is not a zero-sum game, in which one person must lose so that another can win."

The reverse is true, Schulz continued, "either we all lose - or we all win. The fundamental basis for this is the Community method. It is not a technocratic concept, but the principle at the heart of everything the European Union stands for."

Nirj Deva finished second place with a total of 142 votes, followed by Diana Wallis who received 141 votes.

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