No thank you, Mister Blair.

Before the end of this year, the European Union should have a President, elected for 2.5 years.
One of the most pronounced names for the job is that of the former British prime minister, Tony Blair, supported by the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy.
But two other French leaders - Edouard Balladur (the former conservative French prime minister, close to Mr Sarkozy) and Valérie Giscard d’Estaing (former French president and the father of the now defunct EU constitutional treaty) expressed their opinion that Europe’s first president must have majority support from his home country, which should be a nation that respects all its European commitments. Something that Britain might not be doing for the time being.

“Tony Blair cannot be president of Europe,” writes Edouard Balladur in Le Monde . Despite his declarations of good intent, for 10 years, Mr. Blair did almost nothing to put an end to Britain’s special statu, with its opt-outs in the fields of justice and home affairs, non-membership of the euro - area and of the border-free Schengen zone. Moreover, says he, Mr Blair is far too close to America to build an independent Europe.

I might add that if Tony Blair would accept the post, he will have to give up his job at J. P. Morgan, an US-based investment bank (with a salary of around £2 million per year). He would also have to drop his diplomatic role as a Middle East envoy on behalf of western nations.
Besides, Mr. Blair is the subject of an war crimes investigation on the deaths of Iraqi citizens killed during the armed invasion and occupation of Iraq (strange that the mass media did not cover this issue according to its importance, but that’s my opinion. And an ‘innocent’ question: will Basescu follow? since he is the strongest and most vocal Romanian supporter of the Iraqi invasion. Yeah, let’s move on).
There is also an on-line petition agains Blair’s nominalization at www.stopblair.eu, and if we remember the “cash for honours” scandal, we undestand why Mr. Blair is not suitable to become the first EU president.

Other two possible candidates are the prime minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker, a declared believer in a ‘United States of Europe’ and Bertie Ahern, the Irish prime minister. For now.

Something tells me that the recent outburst of the communications commissioner Margot Wallstrom will have some consequencies, at least the debates regarding the election of an EU president will be a little more transparent than before.