THE STATE OF THE UNION 2013
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EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT CALLS FOR NEW APPROACH TO ELECTIONS* MARTIN SCHULZ
PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
A cross-border approach is needed in the 2014 European elections in order to restore citizens’ confidence in the EU, the European Parliament’s president has said. “The people should have the feeling that their vote matters. The next president of the European Commission will be elected by the European Parliament and not behind closed doors by heads of government,” said European Parliament President Martin Schulz, speaking after The State of the Union conference in Florence on 9 May. The European Commission president will be elected in July 2014, just weeks after citizens go to the polls to elect their representatives in the European Parliament. Schulz called for national parties to take a regional approach to the upcoming elections, promoting candidates in other EU member states rather than focusing on a national campaign. “Imagine if in Italy the left-wing parties say, ‘We support an Austrian,’ and the right-wing parties say, ‘We support a Bulgarian’…That’s exactly what we need.