Brussels / Strasbourg, 13/05/2003 (Agence Europe) - In an interview published on Sunday by the Berlin daily, Tagespiel, Chancellor Gehrard Schröder considers that his Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, would be a "brilliant" candidate for the future post of European Minister for Foreign Affairs, and that his appointment would be an "excellent choice". Mr Schröder adds he would be sorry to see Mr Fischer leave the government but would be delighted if he were appointed. "When such a position is within Germany's reach, the Chancellor should not be selfish", he added. His support for the still unofficial candidature of Mr Fischer, who defends an ambitious vision of this new post from within the European Convention of which he is a Member (urging for the creation of an autonomous diplomatic service), comes in addition to that already expressed by Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.
While confirming his support and that of his group concerning the idea of a Vice-President of the European Commission who would also be the Union's "Foreign Affairs Minister", the president of the EPP-ED Group, Hans-Gert Pöttering, told reporters on Tuesday in Strasbourg that he did not understand why Chancellor Schröder speaks of his minister, Joschka Fischer, as if he were a good candidate for the post. First of all, agreement within the Convention must be reached on the principle of such a post, without giving names, the CDU member said. He described as "inappropriate" the behaviour of those who give any names at the present time. Expressing himself in stronger terms, CSU member Bernd Posselt speaks in a press release of "anti-democratic power games". The post, if created, will not come into being before two years from now and by then there will have been European Parliament elections. To decide who will hold the post at this time would be scorning the voters' wishes, he said. A European Foreign Minister, Mr Posselt said, should be able to count on a broad majority of the only democratically elected institution of the European Union, the European Parliament.