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Blair sets out EU vision
15.01.2008, 10:22
In a speech on Saturday (12 January) in Paris, former UK prime minister Tony Blair, who works as a Middle East envoy since June last year, set out his vision for the 27-nation bloc, which appeared as launching a bid to become president of the European Union.
Addressing members of French president Nicolas Sarkozy's
centre-right UMP party, Mr Blair, of the UK's centre-left Labour Party, said
that member states could achieve more if they worked together.
"Europe is not a question of left or right, but a question of the future or
the past, of strength or weakness," said Mr Blair.
"Terrorism, security, immigration, organised crime, energy, the
environment, science, biotechnology and higher education. In all these areas,
and others, we are much stronger and able to deliver what our citizens expect
from us as individual nations if we are part of a strong and united
Europe," he said, according to Reuters.
Mr Blair attended the UMP conference at the invitation of Mr Sarkozy, who first
mentioned him and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker as possible
candidates for president of the European Council, representing member states at
EU leader level, in October.
Negotiations on who should hold the new two-and-a-half-year post are expected
to begin in the second half of this year, when France takes over the helm of
the EU.
At the Saturday meeting, Mr Sarkozy did not say outright that he thought Mr
Blair should be appointed to the post, but praised him as one of "Europe's
greats."
"When we appoint this president of the European Union, I want us to set
the bar high and not aim for the lowest common denominator," said the
French president.
But while Mr Blair appears to have the French government in his corner, he
remains a highly controversial figure for others.
The leader of the opposition French socialists, Francois Hollande, said Mr
Blair's support for the US-led invasion of Iraq makes him unsuitable for the
post.