If Tony Blair is made President of Europe, the EU will never be the same again
Tony Blair is a prime choice for those who want a 'Mr Europe' and the kind of leadership charisma that is not traditionally associated with the EU, writes Bruno Waterfield.
Nicolas Sarkozy believes Tony Blair is the best man for the job Photo: AP
He was then publicly outed as a candidate for the job by his friend Nicolas Sarkozy after the October 2007 Lisbon summit that gave its name to the current treaty.
The anointment was then put on hold when more voters, the Irish, rejected the Lisbon Treaty. The French and Dutch were not asked again and Gordon Brown broke a promise by Mr Blair to consult the British.
Today, even before Ireland’s polling booths had opened for rerun referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, it is inevitable that Mr Blair is again being touted.
The former British leader is a prime choice for those who want “Mr Europe” to have global recognition factor and a touch of the kind of leadership charisma that is not traditionally associated with the EU.
British officials are bullish that Mr Blair “may well” be anointed as the EU’s first president, with French support and lukewarm German consent, at an EU summit on October 29.
The job description, along with salary, terms and conditions, remains unwritten and the text of Lisbon Treaty is not illuminating when describing the new role or its powers. To a great extent the personality will shape the post and if Mr Blair is the chosen one then he will have a massive influence on shaping a presidency that will rival national leaderships and overshadow the EU.
Other Brussels institutions, especially the European Commission, are intensely aware that if Mr Blair takes the job, which does not require a popular election or vote, the EU will never be the same again. Power will shift irrevocably to the Council of the EU, which represents national governments and lead to the creation of Europe as continental bloc to rival the United States and China.
The Commission will be left its internal role as policeman of the single market while President of the Council becomes an international colossus.
Dry Lisbon Treaty text does not begin to describe the potential for the EU to become a new creature under the leadership of Blair-type figure.
With new foreign policy institutions and shadowy committees on internal security, the EU is taking on a very different form to the European Community that Britons voted on joining in 1975.
This destination, after a journey beginning with the 1986 Single European Act and 1992 Maastricht Treaty, and the creation of new institutions of public authority does not have the explicit consent of the British people via a referendum.
Last month, unelected ambassadors to the EU began holding an extra meeting every week to thrash out the rules and procedures of the new post-Lisbon EU.
Next week, if the Irish vote yes today, those meetings will be held three times a week. These talks take place behind closed doors and the papers that are discussed there are classified documents. Can, or should, negotiations to create new institutions of public authority and office legitimately be a private matter?
In secret, over diplomatic dinners, in the corridors of departments, embassies, ministries and chanceries, Europe’s rulers are playing a once in a lifetime game for the future of the EU. The public has not been invited, even as a spectator.
A British referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, or its EU Constitution forebear, was never going to be a vote on whether Britain was in or out of Europe. It should, however, have been a debate on how we are ruled and how public authority, in the form of the EU, is constituted.
This debate – integral to democracy – has been denied.
Mr Blair once promised Britons a referendum on the original Treaty that created the post of EU president. In terms of democracy, he is not entitled to assume this public office without it.
