President Cox

spongebob

Pat Cox has withdrawn from the EU Parliamentary Race. He is currently president thereof, le Grand Fromage Frais himself. He appears to have been 'promised 'something by Bertie .

Is it

a) A Crack at the Presidency of the EU Commission , he is a pretty obvious choice for the Commission , our current Commissioner is pretty invisible TBH which is a good reason not to reappoint . Only 2 of our commissiones ever really made an impact, McSharry and Sutherland. Does anyone remember Burke or Kennedy? Thought so

b) A crack at the state Presidency if Mary chooses not to run, its hers if she says she will run for it.

or

c) an each way bet ?

Thoughts ?

M

sceptre

Interesting development. A Cox withdrawal would almost definitely clear the way for both Collins and Crowley to cruise home. Second option's always open at a later date and some day the men will start voting en masse as well.

If I have to choose, I'd say the bribe^H^H^H^H^Hcarrot is the former. I do actually remember O'Kennedy but not necessarily in a good way. Wasn't it about O'Kennedy that Haughey made the quip about keeping the best men at home?

Feck it, I was probably going to vote for the guy through sheer lack of choice.

spanner

he seems a really compentent guy and really wants to break the apathy and misinformation towards brussels.
i think in a time when so many small countries are coming in, it would be a good idea to have a president from a country which has experience what they will be going through. Also it might shift some of the power from the powerful franco german alliance.
also it would be great to see one of our own lads up there, ireland would be very proud of him

spongebob

Originally posted by sceptre
Feck it, I was probably going to vote for the guy through sheer lack of choice.

Gerry Collins will probably get in now, theres an indictment of Munster people if ever there was one Kathy Sinnott not running is she ?

M

Cork

Originally posted by Muck
Gerry Collins will probably get in now, theres an indictment of Munster people if ever there was one Kathy Sinnott not running is she ?

M

She is running alright.

But I'd predict FF 2, Fg 1

sceptre

Originally posted by Muck
Gerry Collins will probably get in now, theres an indictment of Munster people if ever there was one Kathy Sinnott not running is she ?

M

According to ElectionsIreland she is (7 candidates declared)but I haven't heard anything since she said she wouldn't - news tends to take longer to filter through to the heavily fortified centre of Limerick. I've been unable to stop myself doing bad Gerry Collins impressions every time I see a poster ("aah, I beseech you, Albert, I prefer GerArd, even though my first name is James, a real party bursting name").

Of the declared candidates, I suppose we can eliminate O'Leary and Cullinane (who in any case is treating it as a training ground) from the off, which leaves five. I assume the PDs won't even try to run someone down here. Coveney, Sinnott and Ryan are all based in the city of course so they'll all be looking for Cox's votes (especially given that all three ran in Cork SC last time, Cox's old constituency - could it get more incestuous?).

Originally posted by Muck

a) A Crack at the Presidency of the EU Commission , he is a pretty obvious choice for the Commission
M

His ambition from comments on radio yesterday, would be to become our commissioner andthen take the presidency of that body when Prodi ends his run
Best of luck with it really, a president of the E.U commission with an Irish twist might be a favour to us in an ever expanding E.U
Could someone tell me, if our commiccioner is one of the rotating ones?
I can't remember, if so he has a defined timeline to go for it.

mike65

Sinnott is deffo running her posters are around the place in Munster as of the last few days...Cox might well have presidental ambitions in Europe but I think Chris Pattern is more likely to get the gig I cant see France and Germany backing a small country nomination as they're scared to death of small open economies!

Mike.

sceptre

Originally posted by mike65
Cox might well have presidental ambitions in Europe but I think Chris Pattern is more likely to get the gig I cant see France and Germany backing a small country nomination as they're scared to death of small open economies!

Mike.

That's a possibility. And Patten's generally highly regarded. On the other hand all the major EU countries have had a go at least once except for Spain. And Luxembourg's had two turns, although it didn't work out all that well the last time.

Short list of the good and not so good. And the current shower minus the noobs.

spongebob

Are Ireland and Denmark the longest serving members who never held the presidency . The UK had Woy Jenkins in the 1980s and them barely in (in every sense)

Patten is a decent guy though, he would be a good Presidente

Solano would be the obvious Spaniard I'd say but the Spanish are being less than helpful on the vote weightings in the Council of Ministers .....dunno if they will get a crack this time.

M

Cork

I think that if Bertie can get the constitution thru & the EU will owe us.

Cox has a good chance.

sceptre

Originally posted by Muck
Are Ireland and Denmark the longest serving members who never held the presidency

Yup.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Raskolnikov

Prehaps Cox feared for his re-election chances and didn't want a humiliating rebuttal from the electorate Crowley and Collins should get the first two seats. I hoping O' Leary has a shot at a seat if the Cork South Central people turn out but in all likelyhood it'll probably go to Coveney.

Is Sinnott going to be running on the sole issue of disibility rights again?