Watch out, Obama! Here comes Van Rompuy!

[Crystalmaster Mike]

So, it looks like a Belgian has been chosen to be the first European President, more precisely, Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy. (Pronounce that, Angelsaxo's!)

Some of the larger of the 27 member states of the Union might be reacting, "Belgium, what?", but this unpronounced prime minister might be the best choice to run the first presidentship term.

Though in no way will he start deciding over night what is what in all of Europe. His office will only sit every so often.
Still, he's now a top member of the Belgian celebrity list. This list, ordered somewhat according to taste, contains the like of
- René Margritte (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Magritte), the painter;
- Adolphe Sax (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolphe_Sax) and Jacques Brel, the musicians;
- Plastic Bertrand (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PITnJAnmjqw) and Soeur Sourire (http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=nl&q=soeur+sourire&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=1osFS5iXCo3c-QbT1KHWDQ&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=10&ved=0CCcQqwQwCQ), the other musicians;
- Jean-Claude Van Damme and Audrey Hepburn, the actors;
- yours truely. :P

Meanwhile, in completely unrelated news, the Belgian government is looking for a new prime minister. Will they be able to tackle long-running issues like the eternal hole in the budget? And what about the everlasting debate around the splitting of the electoral arrondissement of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde), which caused such a crisis the country ran without a government for 100 days in 2007?

[Blademaster]

EUROPEAN President?

Wait, what?

[Heald]

As far as I know, the European Presidency is purely an administrative job and he holds little real power in the countries in the EU, despite what tabloids will tell you.

I doubt 99% of people's lives will be even remotely changed by this position.

[Crystalmaster Mike]

^ Well, can't you name at least 1 American presidential term where it would've been better if the top man had purely had an administrative job, instead of 99% of people's lives being changed by his position?

Besides, European countries aren't like states; there's a lot of barriers that would make taking active leadership very hard.

[RedStarWarrior]

^ Well, can't you name at least 1 American presidential term where it would've been better if the top man had purely had an administrative job, instead of 99% of people's lives being changed by his position?

Besides, European countries aren't like states; there's a lot of barriers that would make taking active leadership very hard.
There are a lot of barriers that prevent the American Federal Government from taking thoroughly active leadership. They are called State Governments.

[mr_pikachu]

RSW: True, but the U.S. was designed with a whole power dynamic between states and nation in mind, where neither has absolute control. The European countries, on the other hand, were established to value their own sovereignty... a trait that, quite honestly, I still find valuable. I've done enough globalization research that I feel qualified to say that national sovereignty should not be recklessly cast aside.


On an unrelated note, no matter how I pronounce this guy's name, the end always sounds like "pooey."

[Crystalmaster Mike]

RSW: Over here, they exist too. But we've got more. We've got sea barriers (okay, I know about Alaska), official language barriers (Germanic, Latin, Slavon, ... languages) cultural barriers (Western and Eastern Europe, for instance), religious barriers, ... dividing entire nations.
Plus, there's clan-forming. Ever watch the conclusion of a Eurovision Song Festival? It's not pretty. Not only can neighbouring countries back each other up, (n-th generation) immigrants in other countries sometimes have opposing interests.
Some guidance might be in order to keep the engine running, you know.

mr. pikachu: Yes, each country should still keep a level of sovereignty. Decisions made at the top should be able to be filled in to some extent by the nations themselves.
As of late, the EU is being reorganized at the top level to accomodate this decision-making, one step being the election of a president for the European Counsel.

Oh, and take this: [ˈɦɛɾmɑn vɑn ˈɾɔmpœy̆] (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/69/Herman_Van_Rompuy.ogg) (the y doesn't show right, it should have an inverted accent circomflex or something).

[MToolen]

IPA for the win.

And I'm sure that, from what I'm hearing tossed around, Mr. Van Rompuy will just come in to the council every once in a while and break up filibusters and quagmires. That and maybe a couple billion press and public relations appearances.

[Bear]

Audrey Hepburn is still alive? o.O

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

Yes, we belgians are dominating the world.

What? America? Phah.

Yeah, mixed opinion on this matter. Van Rompuy is a good guy, but this searching for a new prime minister cause a lot of trouble, even though all parties have no objections against Yves Leterme.

(I'm also guessing that the pronounciation is failing, right?)

EDIT: Crystalmaster Mike, you're belgian?

[Crystalmaster Mike]

MToolen: Yeah, it's an iconic job, but admit, what an icon.

Bear: Dunno, just saw the name during a report on famous Belgian people (like our friend Bertrand up there in the list), and just had to toss it in there. :P

MeLoVeGhOsTs: Hey, don't diss Belgium. We've given the world frites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frites#Belgium), the internet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cailliau) and a commander of the ISS... Not too mention some memoriable moments in woman tennis. Some chauvinism is in order. :P
As for the pronounciation... Dunno, it's been a while since I was able to read the IPA language, which is what it apparently is. But I know what's it supposed to sound like, at least I hope I'm right.
And yes, color me black-yellow-red and call me a flag, I am Belgian.

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

Why would I diss Belgium. Look at my location.

[Crystalmaster Mike]

What I really meant was, there's no shame in a healthy dose of national pride. (We can keep the regional feuds for the next national dance contest, or something.)

I knew you were Belgian, btw, from your question and your location. I just, well, wanted to make sure your previous post was more tongue-in-cheek than sarcasm. (Since your post's smiley-to-word ration was <= 0.01, I had to guess. ;) )