The European Parliament elected former Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek as President of the 736-seat assembly on Tuesday. Buzek, 69, won the parliament's support at its first session since an election in June at which his centre-right allies emerged as the strongest force in the assembly, Reuters reported. It is the first time a representative of one of the new European Union member states from the former Soviet bloc has held the mostly ceremonial, but also prestigious post. Buzek was prime minister of a coalition government in Poland from 1997-2001 and has been a member of the European Parliament since 2004, shortly after Poland joined the European Union. He was also a member of the pro-democracy Solidarity trade union which ended Communist rule in Poland in 1989.
