European Tribune has managed to generate plenty of press coverage for its ‘Stop Blair’ petition – more precisely they are against Blair being nominated as President of the European Council. While the reasons European Tribune states against Blair’s candidacy are genuine concerns (Iraq war, relations with the USA, UK not in the Euro or Schengen) there are other factors in favour of a candidate like Blair – his charisma, drive, determination, speech-making ability…
However, more profoundly, European Tribune has ignored all of the inter-institutional dynamics at play with regard to the nominations for the top positions in 2009. If there is to be a stong President of the EU, he or she needs to be President of both the European Commission and European Council. That’s the only way to ensure democratic legitimacy of the post, and to prevent the domination of inter-governmental decision making.
As it currently stand, European Tribune can organise as many polls as they like against Blair, but as the Heads of State and Government nominate the President of the European Council there’s no guarantee that citizens are going to be listened to.