Brussels, 23/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 23 September, the Belgian Foreign Affairs Minister confirmed that Belgium was to put forward the candidacy of Louis Michel for the presidency of the General Assembly of the United Nations, for the period from September 2010 to September 2011. Over the telephone, the MEP, who is a member of the Liberal group, said that his election, which would take place in June 2010, was by no means incompatible with his role as a member of the European Parliament, from which he does not intend to step down. The former European Commissioner, who has just taken over the leadership of the ACP delegation to the European Parliament and will as such be co-president of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, stressed that the Presidency of the General Assembly of the UN had often been carried out by ministers- he referred to the recent case of Jean Ping of Gabon - and that there was no reason it could not be carried out by MEP. The last European to have occupied this post was the Swede Jan Eliasson, who distinguished himself in 2005-2006 by his important mediation work during discussions on the reform of the organisation. (O.J./trans.fl)