It saddens me today to read that even one of my favourite EU blogs – Certain ideas of Europe – falls into the trap of calling the President of the European Council position “first standing president of the European Union“. No, no, no. There’s the Commission too, and that has a full time President too. So let’s get the terms right. OK, few citizens know what the European Council is, but how many non-EU geeks read The Economist’s blog about the EU anyway?
As for the speculation – the fun bit – I reckon the Economist has a point with their analysis of Zapatero’s win. Blair managing to become President of the European Council was always going to be a long shot, and there’s no way he would want the admin (and 5 days a week job!) that the One President job we’re advocating would require. Blair’s last hope is that Berlusconi will win April’s elections in Italy, and that a Sarko-Berlo-Blair axis can manage to win the day. What a scary thought.
The latest odds for the President of the European Council position from Irish betting firm Paddy Power can be found here.
Jon, neat to spot the slip which seems to have eliminated eleven Commission presidents from Hallstein to Barroso, a trifling matter of 50 plus years of European history.
But more important would be for the Economist and others to catch on to democratic accountability at EU level as the next frontier for democracy.
Problem is that it happens too often! The English language press seem to actively make this mistake – I’m doing my best to rebut each of the errors… Not an easy task!
According to the Google Trends it is still Mr. Blair who people are looking for. And it seems sure that he would have a very strong support in Central Europe, not only in France and Italy. According to the gossip Romania would support his election, and I would be very much surprised if the current Hungarian government would do otherwise.