Blair Pitch Project

Civitas, 28 October 2009

A few weeks ago, Tony Blair looked set to become President of the European Union, but his ‘hinted at’ appointment has draw recent criticism.

Conservative shadow foreign secretary, William Hague’s, criticism has been dismissed as mere political skulduggery. After all, a decade ago, Mr. Blair was at the height of his power as Prime Minister of Britain, and Mr. Hague was the leader of a struggling Tory party… Yet, Blair’s bid for the presidency is flawed, not because he is a bad politician, but because of the job – it is an unelected post with no democratic mandate.

Technically speaking, the role of permanent President, created by the Lisbon Treaty (assuming it is finally ratified by the Czech Republic), comes with a two-and-a-half-year term, renewable only once, and it involves chairing the four annual EU summits (with heads of Government from all member states). The broad idea is to appoint a person with international standing who can speak for a united Europe (whatever that means) on the world stage, in concert with its new foreign policy chief. However, beyond this, the President’s capacities and duties are as yet largely undefined.

The role of EU President still remains vague, but we can view the role of the Presidency in two ways. There is a minimalist interpretation, which would see the President of the European Council playing a relatively modest role: coordinating between national governments, chairing European summits and generally providing more policy continuity than the current Presidency (which rotates every six months). And then there is the maximalist interpretation, which wants the new EU President to be a high-profile figure on the world stage. Mr. Blair would do well in this ceremonial role, but as his being a foreign-policy tsar, there is a shadow of doubt. The fact is that European unity tends to crumble at moments of international crisis. The EU split badly when Yugoslavia broke up in the 1990s; and the major EU powers were at each other’s throats over the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Regardless of who becomes President of the EU, one will still be reminded of Henry Kissinger’s oft-quoted remark: ‘Who do I call if I want to call Europe?’

By Ahmed Mehdi