Never mind that the Tories oppose him, never mind that the British do not want him, never mind that many EU citizens reject him, for Charlemagne’s notebook Tony Blair is the only serious candidate, the only world leader (Ex-leader, I would venture.): Europe’s global credibility in the balance (17 November 2009).
“Narcissistic parochialism” seems to describe any discussion about alternative candidates to become president of the European Council.
The world looks simple when you see only former UK prime minister Tony Blair v “non-entities”. Does anyone see traces of British superiority behind the line-up of the arguments?
***
To be taken seriously, seriously
President Barack Obama is not going to rise in the middle of the night because Tony is the caller. Obama is smart enough to learn the name of a European Council president who has something valuable to say. Not least because of the United Kingdom, the European Union will continue to have difficulties coordinating its international actions. If it succeeds, the world will listen, but that requires more work than motorcades.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Do you find EUSSR myths fascinating? Are we EU citizens worth a better European Union? Read the Euroblogs aggregated on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, and discuss our common European future.
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Subscribe To Grahnlaw
Posts
Comments
Like you, Ralf, I am growing weary of the blogs and posts that, on the one hand view the UK as the only country that really matters in the EU, and on the other as so out-of-kilter with the EU that they (the UK) would be better off out.
ReplyDeleteIf Blair ends up being the appointee then it really will be a case of "the lowest common denominator".
French Derek,
ReplyDeleteIt has been interesting to watch how generally respected UK media more or less openly have argued for a (the) "world stage leader", not without a fair amount of ridicule for those funny little foreigners.
When I have looked at the 13 per cent approval rate for a constructive British role in European integration, I have come to the conclusion that the UK would be better outside - but for the sake of Europe.
I love the UK, but I wonder what it has to teach the rest of Europe: Its anti-European mindset, its poor record in European integration, its archaic constitution or its adversarial political culture?
Ideally, the member states could learn a lot from each other, but willingness to learn requires a degree of humility, including an effort to learn languages on both sides of the Channel.