Brussels, 19/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Sunday 18 March, the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, and his counterpart at the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, congratulated Joachim Gauck on winning the German presidential elections.
Schulz said Gauck had played “a crucial role in reuniting the hearts and minds of people from both sides of the former divided Germany. We need to demonstrate such unity and solidarity today in the European Union. Germany, as ever, has a crucial role in shaping a Europe that delivers stability, economic growth and prosperity.”
Barroso pointed out that this election “comes at a time of historic challenges for Europe” with the debt crisis and competitive pressure from globalisation. He said: “If we are to master the economic and social challenges of the 21st century, European cohesion and solidarity are essential. Solidarity within the European Union is not the least of the factors guaranteeing us peace, security and democracy in Europe today. I would therefore ask you: let us work together to promote Europe and our shared European values to the men and women who are our citizens. European integration is not just the legacy of the founding fathers - it is a task for current and future political action.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the victory of Gauck, as did French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean Claude Juncker. Sarkozy said: “The exemplary fight that you have fought on behalf of freedom, together with your commitment to democracy and your struggle for the truth herald a particularly precious message for the whole of Europe.”
Joachim Gauck is 72 years old and is not in any specific political party. He obtained 991 votes out of the 1,232 votes cast in a special parliamentary assembly consisting of MPs from the two houses of the federal parliament and the regional assemblies in a contest against the “Nazi hunter”, Beate Klarsfeld. The post of president is essentially an honorary one in Germany but it does exert influence from a moral viewpoint in the country. On 17 February, President Christian Wulff resigned following allegations of corruption. (CG/transl.fl)