Tony Blair as President of the European Council – I’m torn
He’s been quiet for a while, but Tony Blair is coming back into the public limelight. First he joined the Catholic Church (bad), then he joined JP Morgan (probably bad), he’s aiming for peace in the Middle East (good, but probably he won’t manage it) and this weekend he spoke to Sarkozy’s UMP Party congress (bad [Labour is part of the PES!], although at least he spoke French). This has been widely interpreted as a first step towards becoming the nominee for the new 30-month long position of President of the European Council that will exist from autumn 2009 onwards. I assume Blair is not interested in anything in the Commission.
On this issue I’m really torn… Conventional wisdom would suggest that Blair would not have a hope of getting that position. He’s from a large Member State, and his reputation at EU level is really tarnished thanks to the war in Iraq. Despite his undoubted abilities to charm people he did not manage to deliver on the pledge to put Britain at the heart of Europe. On the other hand he would be a big hitter, a politician with a degree of international credibility that the EU has generally lacked. Better Blair to speak to major world powers than Juncker or Ahern, some of the other likely candidates.
So I’m sitting on the fence on this one for now, but if you’re more convinced than I am, join the Facebook Group supporting Blair’s candidature.
OK, OK, THERE’S NO NEED TO SHOUT!
It’s not going to happen anyway.
TONY BLAIR SHOULD NOT BE LEADER OF THE EU TO ANYONE WHO HAS WATCHED THE OMEN FILMS HE IS DAMION THE OMEN WAS TOOK FROM THE BOOK OF REVELATIONS THE BIBLE WAS WRITTEN IN GREEK IN THE GREEK ALPHABET W IS 6 SO WWW IS 666 TONY BLAIR HAS A W ON HIS FOREHEAD THE BIBLE TELLS US YOU WILL NO THE BEAST BY THE MARK ON HIS FOREHEAD HE NOW WANTS TO BE THE LEADER OF THE EU
GOD HELP US HE IS EVIL
Tony blair should never be allowed to be president of the EU.
He and his spouse have debilitated the UK where we are now in debt to the tune of over 1.3 Trillion Pounds.
He waged an illegal war aganst iraq with loss of life to the very ones he was standing for and his wife Cheri used no’ 10 Downing street like her own office.
Blairs signing up to all items in the human rights acts played perfectly for his wife who made a fortune from this.
In my own opinion, the British people don’t realy want to belong to Europe but were forced by the governments without a referendum and therefor under democratic rules….we shouldn’t even be there!
If Blairs past accomplishments have anything to go by, if they allow him to be president of anything…..you could see Europe go down the same slippery slide that the UK has done…….From 1st world to 3rd……But hey! they can’t say that as we saved the world and have debts that are more than the whole of the African Continent! Thanks to Blairs Leadership
Tony Blair is an unprincipled liar who has thrown away the moral authority of the UK and perverted many of its institutions
Isn’t there a contradiction in
Blair should not be given any job- he should be shot!
Come on Jon! You know that he is the right man for the job; he has the authority and legacy to craft the new position into a worthwhile role, and I have no doubt that he’ll do so. And as you say, foreigners will take him seriously.
Perhaps Mr.Blair as The President of Europe (I know, I know… but I like to call him in this way :), forgive me…) would make a good impression on UK’s people, at least they could not go on saying EU is ruled by French people…
Anyway I do not like Mr.Blair, because of his deep unliberal mentality. Unliberal not in the sense of against lib-dem party, but against freedom and honesty, especially the pernicious idea that security is more important then some liberties (the edge of the slippery slope…).
If I were allowed to chose my President, I would chose Ahern.
Both the President of the European Council and the High Representative/Vice-Pesident raise interesting questions: Is the European Council going to allow open and transparent election processes? Are the citizens of Europe going to voice their (divergent) views?