Thursday 22 October 2009

Mary Robinson for EU President

A citizens campaign has been started to propose former President and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, for the new post as President of the European Union. The choice will be made by the EU Council, i.e. the representatives of the member states. The selection of Mary Robinson would send a signal that the European Union is concerned about social exclusion, racism and the protection of human rights and the new President would hopefully be able to exert some influence on European Union policies both within Europe and in the wider world. The candidate most mentioned at the moment is Tony Blair, who would not send out those signals. The European Union leaders meet on 29 October and while the appointment will not be decided on then, the discussion abut the post will begin in earnest. If there was a strong grassroots groundswell in favour of Mary Robinson, it might influence them. There is a petition to sign at www.maryrobinson.eu/petition.html and the campaign has a website at http://www.maryrobinson.eu/ where you can also sign up and add to the list of supporters on Facebook.

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