Brussels, 20/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - 'It will be interesting to cooperate with the upcoming Finnish EU Presidency (second half of 2006, Ed.) as Mr Erkki Tuomioja, the Foreign Minister of Finland, seems to have so much to learn about the work of the European Parliament,' said Elmar Brok, CDU MEP and chair of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, in a press release referring to an interview by Erkki Tuomioja on 16 October in the Finnish media where he is quoted as saying 'it is a shame the European Parliament is not any more chosen by members of national parliaments, thus it would be more representative and feel more its responsibility'. (Before the first European elections of June 1979, the members of the European assembly were selected by Member States' parliaments.) Brok said he was astonished that the foreign minister of a country that has been in the EU for more than a decade didn't understand how the EP works: 'I am happy to invite Mr Tuomioja for study days to Brussels and explain to him our work now and how it was before, when we were not elected by European citizens. But it is clear there is no turning back to the 60s and 70s.'