New EP President Jerzy Buzek meets the press

Speaking in Polish and English Jerzy Buzek had his first official press conference as President of the European Parliament on Tuesday at 1.15. For almost an hour he was grilled by Europe's media about his views and priorities, He paid tribute to journalists saying that we “depend on you to convey our message”, before admitting that “we don't always succeed”.

In his opening remarks he said that “one of my goals is for European citizens to understand how important European integration is for them”. He said that “we cannot change Europe without its 500 million citizens”.
 
How will he make his mark?
 
Asked by a TV journalist how he would make his mark, he said it was “very import to make parliamentary life interesting”. “What happens in plenary is the result of hours of committee debates”, he said. “If we explain to people how we arrive at consensus it could be more attractive”.
 
“In October we will try to modify our way of operating, for example trying to make the operation of Parliament livelier, more interesting for citizens” he went on to tell the press.
 
On the make up of the present Parliament he noted that “if there are more eurosceptics in the EP then the message to us is that our message is not clear enough. We must reach out to people more.
 
Relations with Russia
 
He was asked by a French journalist about relations with Russia, as ”Poland is most familiar with Russia“.
 
Mr Buzek was adamant: ”Relations between EU and Russia are very important, we are dealing with the same continent and its neighbourhood., The EU needs Russia and Russia needs the EU.“
 
But he also emphasised differences of outlook: Russian democracy - they claim their system is democratic - differs from ours. Also the rules of the economy are different than in the EU.”
 
Finally he warned that “we must be aware of our differences, especially on human and civil rights- we cannot forget about this”.
 
Lisbon treaty “as soon as possible”
 
Asked by a Polish TV journalist about his pro-Lisbon message to MEPs the former Prime Minister said: “This treaty should be implemented as soon as possible.
 
He elaborated: ”The people expect us to counteract the climate crisis, energy security, democratic crises; and have good relations with external partners, - without the treaty we do not have the instruments to deal with these issues“.
 
EU enlargement: yes or no?
 
Pressed on his views on EU enlargement he said that the ”criteria must be defined and adhered to. In my country it took 15 years. “We in Solidarity felt a wind of freedom coming from the west. Then the great gesture of entering the EU…Your support was helpful but we had to meet the challenge”.
 
Pressed on the Western Balkans he said “We have an interesting and promising situation. It had been a difficult, explosive part of Europe” in the past. “Countries queuing up to join is a symbol of our success”.
 
Vote to confirm Barroso as EC President
 
“We have key challenges ahead of us and delay reduces our operational efficacy, so we need an elected president of the EC as soon as possible” he said.
 
China
 
He was asked by a Chinese journalist what the EU will do to help promote democracy. Referring to Tiananmen Square, he said “In 1989 we saw the difference between Europe and your part of the world. We can never forget the human dimension; this is the foundation of the EU and Europe”.