I think I’ve now read the first genuinely good analysis about future Presidents in a UK publication. Entitled “The Big Question: What is the role of the EU President, and who are the leading candidates?” it appeared in The Independent on Tuesday this week, written by John Lichfield. On particular paragraph is excellent – a succinct summary of the case for One President:
The obvious solution would be to appoint the same person as council President and EC President, with the High Representative as his or her sidekick and “foreign minister”. There is nothing in the EU treaties, as amended by the reform treaty, to prevent this from happening. You would then have a genuine “President for Europe” with real scope and power. For this reason alone, it will not happen.
Yes, the last line is our fear too – is any leader willing to be that radical? Citizens wanting a democratically legitimate EU should demand that sort of thinking. Lichfield also says that federalists hope the European Council position would develop into a directly elected President… I’m none too sure about that! Federalism is more often about parliamentary systems and not direct election. But some democratic legitimacy for the European Council President job is vital.
Charlemagne in The Economist last week was entitled “The parable of the Presidents” and looks at another facet of the European Council President job – how it keeps Heads of States away from chairing meetings while their ministerial colleagues will still chair formations of the Council of the EU. While my own reaction would be ‘tough’, there might well be something useful in this – if Heads of States themselves are none too pleased with the President of the European Council job that might mean they will not want a strong character to fill the position?
Obvious solutions are often accepted in the end, but some time may pass before it happens.
In the meantime we could discuss the election procedure, the track record of potential candidates and their countries as well as the personal qualities needed, before wasting too much energy on speculation about persons who have no standing as candidates.
I presented my views on my blog.