Published: Tuesday 29 September 2009
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende is conducting a "very subtle" lobbying campaign in Brussels to be considered a candidate for the job of EU Council president, according to sources, who forecast that should the Lisbon Treaty enter into force, he will be strongly backed by Angela Merkel.
Why not Blair?
Mr Blair’s problem is his campaign team. David Miliband clearly irritated EU leaders with his allusion to Mr Blair’s political X-Factor – his ability to ‘stop the traffic in Moscow and Beijing’. And the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom told EU leaders: 'Get real - this is a unique opportunity to get a strong progressive politician to be president.' When Gordon Brown instructs his fellow EU leaders to ‘get real’ about Mr Blair’s candidacy, the medium becomes offensive and patronising. Who, after all, is he to lecture the presidents and prime ministers of the great nations of Europe to ‘get real’? Why should the omnipotent Franco-German Axis, the progeny of Emperor Charlemagne, listen to a gruff Scottish schizoid whose political growl is as feeble as a dying breath?
And so Tony Blair now has competition in the form of:
John Bruton of Ireland
Bertie Ahern also of Ireland
Jan Peter Balkenende of the Netherlands
Herman Van Rompuy of Belgium
Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia
Wolfgang Schüssel of Austria
Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg
Felipe Gonzalez of Spain
Paavo Tapio Lipponen of Finland
and Fredrik Reinfeldt of Sweden
(Cranmer: Tony Blair: L’Europe, ce n’est pas moi)
He “NLD Balkenende, Jan Peter Prime Minister” also featured on the Official 2008 Bilderberg Participant List: