by afew
Wed Sep 30th, 2009 at 02:42:11 AM EST
Jean Quatremer, in his Backstage Brussels blog (h/t nanne), has some apparently definitive news:
| Coulisses de Bruxelles, UE: Tony Blair, président du Conseil européen, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, ministre des Affaires étrangères de l’Union ? | | |
« Personne n’a osé s’opposer à Barroso. Qui osera dire non à Tony Blair ? » Pour ce diplomate français de haut rang, l’affaire est entendue : l’ancien Premier ministre britannique sera bien le premier président du Conseil européen des chefs d’État et de gouvernement, une fonction créée par le traité de Lisbonne que toutes les capitales européennes espèrent voir entrer en vigueur d’ici à la fin de l’année. | | "No one dared oppose Barroso. Who will dare say no to Tony Blair?" This top level French diplomat thinks the business is settled: the former PM of Britain will surely be the first president of the European Council of heads of state and government, a function created by the Lisbon treaty that all European capitals hope to see applied by the end of the year. |
| La guerre en Irak, qui est une tâche sanglante sur son CV, ne sera en aucun cas un empêchement dirimant : « seule l’opinion publique est encore sensible à cette question, pas ses électeurs qui sont les 27 chefs d’État et de gouvernement », poursuit ce diplomate. « Le seul qui pourrait s’y opposer, c’est José Luis Zapatero », le premier ministre espagnol. Mais on le voit mal prendre la tête d’une croisade contre un ancien premier socialiste alors qu’il vient de soutenir la réélection à la tête de la Commission d’un ancien premier ministre conservateur tout aussi favorable à la guerre en Irak, José Manuel Durao Barroso… Et comme on le note à Paris, « ce qui a bénéficié à Barroso bénéficiera à Blair » : de fait, aucun politique n’a fait connaître son intérêt pour ce poste, « ce qui montre soit la médiocrité de la classe politique européenne, soit le désintérêt croissant que suscitent ces postes », ironise un observateur bruxellois. | | The Iraq war, a bloody stain on his CV, will in no way be an obstacle: "only public opinion is still sensitive to this question, not his electors who are the 27 heads of state and government", the diplomat goes on. "The only one who could stand in the way is Jose-Luis Zapatero", the Spanish PM. But it's hard to see how he could lead a crusade against a socialist former premier when he has just supported the re-election as head of the Commission of a conservative former PM who was just as favourable to the Iraq war, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso... And, as noted in Paris, "what worked in Barroso's favour will work in Blair's": in fact, no politician has declared her/is interest for the post, "which shows either the mediocrity of the European political class, or the growing lack of interest that these posts arouse", a Brussels observer said with irony. |
Hmmm. In fact, has any politician declared an interest? Blair hasn't said a word. And, if declaring an interest just means starting rumours, here's another:
EurActiv.com - Dutch PM said to be eyeing EU president job | EU - European Information on EU Priorities & Opinion
A leading Dutch source in Brussels told EurActiv that Balkenende "definitely wants the job," adding that "the rumour is being fed from The Hague".
Balkenende, the Christian Democrat leader of the Netherlands since 2002, has issued repeated public denials of his interest in the new EU 'top job', which will be created should the Lisbon Treaty's ratification be finalised in Ireland, Poland and Czech Republic. When questioned recently on the issue in the Dutch parliament, he described the growing speculation as "nonsense".
However, when put on the spot by the opposition, he refused to give categorical assurances that he would finish his term as prime minister, fuelling further rumour-mongering in both The Hague and Brussels.
Furthermore, the source, who did not wish to be named, believes that Balkenende will have a high-profile backer in re-elected German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Ah, Merkel. It's now clear she'll be German Chancellor, so no hope of pulling her out of a hat to fill the president of the European Council job. German attitudes to that job are not favourable to the big, grandstanding version that would be Blair's. A point that Quatremer's informants seem to have left out...
I'll post a more in-depth piece on how the presidency post came into being and was defined (or not defined), later today.
