The European Union needs individuals with standing, credibility, and an understanding of history. States(wo)men that citizens can warm to and respect. But there’s a problem – there are not too many characters like that around in Europe at the moment. J Clive Matthews speculates that Václav Havel would be a good candidate for ‘EU president’ (I assume he means President of the European Council), while Publius and a number of other French bloggers have cited Bronisław Geremek as their favoured candidate.
First of all the problem with both of these campaigners for freedom is their age – Geremek is 76 and Havel 72, the latter having also been very ill. Everyday political work, late night negotiations in European Council meetings, is surely not something they would want to do? Furthermore would the political parties even want characters like these to play leading roles? After all they got to the top in large part through bravery and rebellion, not by slavish loyalty to a party machine.
So as far as I’m concerned, while talking about Geremek and Havel might shed light on the sorts of skills a European leader should have, I don’t think either is a serious candidate.
One of the points lifted into view in the news reporting on the poll about different European leaders was the general feeling that a separate president of the European Council was not needed.
I tried to scan the Harris poll, but failed to see any mention there. But if the facts are correct, then it is a factor which bolsters the argument for a merger of the presidents’ posts.
If the Lisbon Treaty enters into force, some president of the European Council is required by the treaty, but democratic legitimacy and popular opinion could be taken into account by a double-hatted president based on the European Parliament election results in 2009.
Havel would never take the job. Completely out of question.
[...] Polish Foreign Minister and historian, he’d also been suggested as a good candidate for first president of the EU, and was one of the few MEPs with genuine name recognition value. His kind are rare – and exactly [...]