Candidates for the EU Parliament: The Rich, the Odd and the Beautiful

[Macs.]

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l314/Macs3000/EU/Engstrom.jpg


Sweden's Christian Engström, 48, is the front-runner for the Pirate Party, which has been fighting to liberate the Internet from government control and intervention. A verdict that imposed fines and prison sentences on the operators of the wildly successful Internet file-sharing site "Pirate Bay" made the Pirate Party popular. Founded in 2006 as a protest party, it has grown so strong that it's now the third-largest party in Sweden.http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l314/Macs3000/EU/Savio.jpg


Emanuele Filiberto Umberto Reza Ciro René Maria di Savoia, the 36-year-old grandson of Italy's last king and prince of Venice and Piedmont, is running on an Italian Christian Democratic ticket. As he boasted at a recent press conference, he speaks five languages, knows half of Europe's heads of state personally -- and is related to the other half.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l314/Macs3000/EU/Matera.jpg


Barbara Matera: Blonde, well-proportioned and once a top "Miss Italia" contestant, the 27-year old star and TV presenter can be found in quite a few YouTube movies. She's also said to be refreshingly inexperienced in the world of politics.http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l314/Macs3000/EU/Binev.jpg


Slavi Binev: The 43-year-old Bulgarian has owned discos and nightclubs. He and his business partners control companies involved in entertainment, construction and security. He employs 2,000 people and brings in millions. But, above all, Binev thrives on his reputation as an international Tae Kwon Do champion in the Balkans (1990) and Europe (1992).http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l314/Macs3000/EU/Pauli.jpg

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l314/Macs3000/EU/pauli-rtr400-1220885596.jpg

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l314/Macs3000/EU/pauli2.jpg

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l314/Macs3000/EU/pauli5.jpg


Gabriele Pauli: Once Germany's youngest district administrator, Pauli has been famous in Germany since 2007, when she publicly criticized Edmund Stoiber, then Bavaria's governor, and set in motion a chain of events that ended in his resignation as head of the Christian Social Union party. Pauli benefited from that run-in. Soon thereafter, her image was splashed across the cover of a magazine wrapped in the Bavarian flag, wearing latex gloves and a lusty expression. Now she's running as a candidate for the Free Voters, a minor conservative party in Bavariahttp://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l314/Macs3000/EU/Becali.jpg


George "Gigi" Becali: The 50-year-old Romanian entrepreneur, politician and owner of the Steaua Bucuresti football club recently spent two weeks in pre-trial custody after his bodyguards beat up three theives who stole his car. Having come from a family of shepherds, Becali made his fortune in real estate. If he doesn't succeed in politics, Becali told a radio reporter, "maybe I'll dedicate myself to sheep again."http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l314/Macs3000/EU/Elena.jpg

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l314/Macs3000/EU/Elena2.jpg


Elena Basescu: This 28-year-old has already logged some hours in Brussels, as a trainee with a MP from the party of her father, Traian Basescu, the president of Romania. Elena works as a model, has a reputation for being a party girl and, according to the Austrian newspaper Der Standard, is "known for a checkered love life."

Thanks in part to her appearance, the media likes to refer to Elena Basescu as the "Romanian Paris Hilton." In response to critics who say she doesn't have to intellectual firepower needed to represent her country in the European Parliament, her father counters that she is "much cleverer than people think."



CANDIDATES FOR THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

The Rich, the Odd and the Beautiful

By Hans-Jürgen Schlamp in Brussels

Many have a hard time finding enthusiasm for the European Parliament elections. But they should pay more attention to the colorful array of candidates on offer. From millionaires to machos, blue bloods to bombshells, next week's vote has it all.

Silvio Berlusconi, the media mogul and Italy's prime minister, wanted to line up some "fresh faces" for the 2009 European parliamentary elections.

More specifically, he was thinking of showcasing a host of attractive young women, including professional showgirls and a participant on the Italian version of "Big Brother" known throughout the country for her skimpy outfits. As he saw it, these individuals would bring youth and glamour to his center-right People of Freedom (PdL) party. But then Berlusconi's wife, Veronica Lario, got fed up with his flaunting of young femininity (http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,624638,00.html) and publicly denounced both him and the "shamelessness of power." So, Berlusconi dropped the plan for running with a whole team of young women.


Rest of the article: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,627706,00.html

[Jobu]

The last pic.....Catherine the Great?

[muck]

God help us all.

[Panchito12]

What do they actually do, apart from collecting a phat salary?

[muck]

What do they actually do, apart from collecting a phat salary?It's like any other parliament except for the small difference that they can't push for own bills in certain branches of legislation. Sixty percent of all the laws enforced in EU member states nowadays come from Brussels though. It's suicidal to think they would not have any function. I'd advise even the strongest EU opponents to vote Sunday after next. Vote for any party you please but just do it.

Admittely there is much junk in that parliament but some of the parliamentarians are bright heads, too.

[joka]

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/3143/penttilc3a4.jpg

Risto E.J. Penttilä
Bachelor of Arts, Yale, 1984
Doctor of Philosophy, Oxford, 1989
Published author
Columnist for The Financial Times and International Herald Tribune
Secretary General of the European Business Leaders’ Convention
Director for EVA, pro-market think-tank financed by the Finnish business community

(Voted for him yesterday)

Anyway, this beautiful woman = no brains logic is quite strange, evolution tends to give favourable assets in package deals.

[Derbedeu]

It's like any other parliament except for the small difference that they can't push for own bills in certain branches of legislation. Sixty percent of all the laws enforced in EU member states nowadays come from Brussels though. It's suicidal to think they would not have any function. I'd advise even the strongest EU opponents to vote Sunday after next. Vote for any party you please but just do it.

Admittely there is much junk in that parliament but some of the parliamentarians are bright heads, too.

Most definitely. I can't stand people who voice their displeasure at politicians and institutions (especially when it comes to the EU), yet when it actually comes time to have a say, don't vote. If that's the case, then I don't wanna hear your complaining! :slap:

Oh... and as a Romanian (and a FC Steaua fan), I can't help but dread the possibility of that idiot Becali being elected to any post that represents our nation (the dude is worse than Steinbrenner of the Yankees as an annoying and opiniated asshole of an owner). :|

At least Elena would give me something to look at, though she still makes me :oops: at the possibility of being elected.

[Kjallakr]

It's suicidal to think they would not have any function.

I didn't know that the EU executed political fugitives...








p-)

[Breerman]

Pirate Party is having a good run in the polls so they are most likely getting in. Only good news on that list.