Italy's Antonio Tajani of the center-right European People's Party is the new president of the European Parliament, after winning the vote Tuesday night in Strasbourg.
European Parliament elects new president
STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 18, ARTSAKHPRESS: The new president was elected after four voting rounds, with support of liberals and conservatives, Voanews.com reports.
Tajani is an ex-spokesman to former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. He also was a European Union Commissioner between 2008 and 2014.
Tajani said he believes his 23 years of experience at the EU can bring change to the union.
“We need a more democratic Europe. We cannot close ourselves off in our ivory tower in Brussels. We need to open up to our citizens and we need to hold a series of initiatives to open up the doors of parliament to our citizens so that we can have a constant discussion between members and the citizens of Europe.”
The other candidates all ran with similar calls for a more open and democratic Europe.
