Strasbourg, 20/07/2004 (Agence Europe) - Bronislaw Geremek was in favour of the war in Iraq and he is a "liberal" politician, which are reasons why the Socialists do not vote for him as president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, President of the Socialist Group at the European Parliament, told the press on Tuesday. Speaking to a journalist who noted that Mr Geremek is, however, better known than Mr Borrell, the German Socialist said: "The fact of being known is not a criteria! If that were the case, one could also elect Mr Le Pen, who is very well known!" More seriously, Mr Schulz cited several reasons in favour of choosing Josep Borrell as president of the Parliament: first of all, because for the past ten years (elections of Klaus Hänsch as Parliament President in 1994), no Socialist or Social Democrat has been parliament president. Then, because ratification of the Constitution will dominate European debates in the next two years and, on this terrain, the former Convention member Borrell is more at ease than someone like Mr Geremek.