By Stephen McKinley
A former Irish TV journalist has won the race to become president of the European Parliament.
Pat Cox, 49, a Liberal Democrat, has promised to reform the assembly and make it more efficient. He was a member of the Dail, for Cork South Central from 1992-94.
“We want less voting and less technicalities, and to bring our influence to bear,” Cox told the parliament on Tuesday. “I sense there is an appetite for change. There is a feeling in this House that we need to do more politics.”
Cox, who takes over from Frenchwoman Nicole Fontaine, had the backing of the parliament’s largest grouping, the center-right European People’s Party. The vote went to a third round before Cox achieved an absolute majority.
This was the first public race for the presidency as previous appointments have been agreed between the parties.
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The European Parliament augments the work of the European Commission by debating European-wide issues and measures that sometimes become law through the Commission. As yet the Parliament does not have the legislative powers that it desires, and EU member countries can still veto European Parliament legislation in favor of national legislation.