Why Helle Thorning-Schmidt would be a good choice for president of the European Council

The Economist has a short story on why Scandinavians are often seen as good choices for important international jobs. Read more about it here.

The Candidates

Who will be the next High Representative for EU Foreign Policy? Or President of the European Council? Jon Worth writes good pieces on the subject. Go to his blog and see why.

Mrs. Schmidt goes to Washington

The Danish Prime Minister and current President of the EU talked to U.S. President Obama. Take a look:

The Danish Presidency - will it matter?

Denmark is currently holding the rotating presidency of the EU. It's one of the smaller countries in the Union, and it has opted out of the euro. Plus its prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, a social democrat, is new at the helm of Danish politics (and now the EU). These facts might cause people to diminish the importance of this particular presidency.

But maybe all of the above works to Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt's advantage. After all (bearing in mind Denmark's surprising win in the 1992 European Championships in football), Denmark is a country that thrives at being an underdog. So maybe a political upset is in the making, too.

Thorning-Schmidt is a skilled analyst (who holds an M.Sc. in political science and an M.A. in European studies from the College of Europe) who's is quite underrated despite her impressive resumé and ability to ride off a storm (she was falsely accused of tax fraud and met by a crowd of agressive journalists in the Copenhagen Airport without as much as a blemish or a stutter).

Nobody really expects much of this presidency (or any other due to the fact that the union now also has a permanent president in Herman von Rompuy). But maybe the Danes' ability to prepare professionally and punch above its weight might result in competent stewardship.

'Keep your eyes on the money, Mr Berlusconi'

Even during times of great financial turmoil and crucial decision-making, Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi finds time to check out the ladies, i.e. the Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt.