So Tony Blair will be an official British candidate for the job of EU Council President should the Irish vote for the Lisbon Treaty (and the Polish and Czech presidents sign the document). That’s what Baroness Kinnock has said.
For many CoffeeHousers, this will combine two things you love to hate. But few Britons have the ex-Prime Minister’s international starpower and commitment to a free-trading Europe. The French Presidency has shown that only big country, big personality leadership can make a difference on the key foreign policy issues.
But for those very reasons, it is hard to see Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel backing a Blair candidature. Both will be loath to share the limelight with a President Blair when that other President, Barack Obama, comes around for visits. Smaller countries will also worry that drawing a Council President from one of the largest EU countries will marginalise their interests.
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