Brussels, 13/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - Felipe Gonzalez wrote to president Nicolas Sarkozy on 8 October, presenting him with a list of the nine members of the reflection groups, which is expected be ratified by the European Council. In total, the group chaired by the former Social president of the Spanish movement, will therefore include, as planned by the European Council, twelve members, including the two vice presidents: the former Greens president of Latvia, Vaira Vike-Freiberga and the former boss of Nokia, Jorma Ollila.
The nine member of the group are as follows: Lykke Friis, vice-rector of the University of Copenhagen (39, Denmark); Ms Friis is part of the Liberal Right; she worked at the department of industry and the Danish Confederation of Industry; - Rem Koolhaas, distinguished architect (64, Netherlands) Pitzker prize-winner; - Richard Lambert, CBI director general, British employers' organisation; Chancellor at the University of Warwick (64); - Mario Monti (65, Italy), former European Commissioner; Rainer Münz, Professor of Demography (54, Austria); - Kalypso Nicolaïdis, professor of international relations at the European Studies Centre, University of Oxford; Ms was also an advisor to the former Greek Socialist foreign affairs department of Georges Papandreou; - Nicole Notat, former Secretary General of the CFDT trade union (61, France); - Wolfgang Schuster, CDU mayor of Stuttgart (59, Germany); - Lech Walesa, trade unionist and former president of Poland (65).
In his letter, Gonzalez draws president Sarkozy's attention to the need for the European Council to, “formally approve the composition of the group, so that it can begin its work immediately and outline relevant provisions on this occasion, for providing the personal, material and logistic means required for it to”. (O.J./trans/rh)