Sarkozy and Brown push Blair for EU presidency

[Flabbergasted]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/19/africa/union.php



Sarkozy and Brown push Blair for EU presidency
By Dan Bilefsky Published: October 19, 2007

LISBON: President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain endorsed Tony Blair on Friday to be the European Union's first permanent president, even as critics questioned how a leader from a nation deeply skeptical of the EU could take over the new high-profile post.

European leaders agreed early Friday to a new treaty for the 27-member bloc that creates the post of EU president to represent Europe internationally on issues such as climate change, bilateral relations and development. The post could finally make it clear whom Washington should call when it "wants to speak to Europe," as Henry Kissinger once put it.

As rumors swirled at the summit meeting over who should be the new president - with Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark; Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg; and a former Polish president, Aleksander Kwasniewski, also cited as possible candidates - Brown insisted that Britain's charismatic former prime minister was singularly qualified.

The new EU president is to replace a cumbersome system by which EU leaders and nations rotate holding the presidency every six months. The new post would come into effect in January 2009.

"Tony Blair would be a great candidate for any significant international job," Brown said. Referring to Blair's current job as the EU's Middle East envoy, he added: "As you know, the work that he is doing in the Middle East is something that is of huge international importance."

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Blair's candidacy for the presidency was also endorsed by Sarkozy, who singled out his pro-EU sensibilities.

"I saw Tony Blair the night before last and he is a remarkable man, the most pro-European of all the British," he said. "I don't know what his intentions are. But that one could think of him as a possibility is quite a smart move."

[acmavm]

1. OMG, what are the odds he'll get it?? This just scares the bejeezus

out of me.

[GeminiProgressive]

2. Democracy at work

everyone in Europe hates Blair...but they will make him president anyhow.

[acmavm]

3. Why???

[Frances]

4. I would think that having Blair as EU president would

cost the British Labor Party votes. Other opinions?