The idea that Tony Blair might “emerge” as president of the EU from the secretive conclave that will be held once the Czechs become the last government to ratify the EU constitution Lisbon Treaty looks ever more unlikely.
EurSoc lists some of the problems with the Blair candidacy (which, good oligarch that he is, Blair has never actually deigned to announce), but also points out the silver lining if this dreadful man actually gets his hands on the job:
The fact is, the number of ordinary Europeans in full possession of their wits who genuinely support a Blair presidency can be counted on one hand. Conservatives hate Blair the Socialist; Leftists hate the free marketeer who became the Butcher of Baghdad. Atlanticists loathe the Eurofanatic; anti-Americans hate the man who made Britons cringe with his oleaginous flattery of the US Congress. Euro-zealots despise Blair for failing to bring Britain into Schengen or the Eurozone and forcing a referendum on the Constitution on Jacques Chirac; Euro sceptics hate him for agreeing to the Constitution in the first place, and the single currency on principle. Atheists hate Blair the God-botherer; Protestants are suspicious of the turncoat, Catholics dislike how he had been a member of the Roman church for only weeks before he instructed Pope Benedict XVI on how best to make Catholicism more diverse and respectful of homosexual relationships.
We’d be delighted if Blair’s supporters could find us some “men in the street” who think Tony Blair would make a good President of Europe. We’d love to hear what they had to say. The British, who are about to remove a Labour government from power, would react with horror to Blair’s return. Continental Europeans would be furious at the news that he had been selected to represent them. “Why didn’t we get a vote on this?” would be the cry. Blair’s accession would be a symbolic moment for Europe: Any residual scepticism at “The Project”, any resentment at the EU’s anti-democratic antics, any anger at how national principles are sacrificed in the name of “ever closer union” would be crystallised in the moment Tony Blair emerged grinning from whatever coven of ministers and Eurocrats cooked up the deal that would appoint him President.
And there would be protests in the streets. Just as Henry Kissinger would have the man to phone if he wanted to speak to Europe, the ordinary European would have someone to direct his anger towards when he feels he has been hard done by.
It would be the greatest moment for Eurosceptics. At last, Europeans would be united – in their loathing for their masters and their appointee.