President of the European Parliament up a debate on the role of the president and make the figure more dynamic, to counterbalance the growing power of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. However, on 8 July 2009 Watson announced that he withdrew his candidacy thus leaving Buzek with only one opponent. The other official candidate was Eva-Britt Svensson, nominated from EUL-NGL. She campaigned with the slogan "a different voice". She was the first MEP from Sweden to candidate to the position. In the first vote of the new Parliament Jerzy Buzek (EPP, Poland) was elected Parliament president, winning with 555 votes to
Jacek Saryusz-Wolski minister Jan Krzysztof Bielecki. He held this position till 1996, despite the frequent government changes. He returned to the government in 2000, when the prime minister Jerzy Buzek has nominated him a secretary in the European Integration Committee ("Komitet Integracji Europejskiej"). Jacek Saryusz-Wolski played an important role in the negotiations in Nice in 2000. In 2001, he unsuccessfully ran for the Polish Senate on behalf of "Blok Senat 2001". Saryusz-Wolski was elected an MEP at the European Parliament election on 13 June 2004, as a candidate of Civic Platform, in the constituency #6 (Łódź Voivodship) receiving 66,589 votes (that is