Ministers ponder creation of EU super-president

EUObserver reports that a reflection group of selected EU Foreign Ministers have suggested merging the roles of the European Council and European Commission Presidents.

A senior EU source told EUObserver following a meeting of the club in the Val Duchesse stately home in Brussels on the 19 April 2012 that the new supremo would have more power than either Herman Van Rompuy or Jose Manuel Barroso do today but also more 'democratic legitimacy' because he or she would be elected by MEPs.

The reflection group was formed by German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle in Berlin in March 2012. It plans to meet two more times before the summer recess and to circulate a discussion paper at EU27-level in September 2012.

The other countries in the club are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

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