It strikes me that the essential reason we embarked on the whole idea of whodoicall.eu was still as valid as ever – the need for the EU to have one figurehead, the head of the executive, and for that person to be democratically accountable. Indeed Brian Cowen, the Irish Prime Minister, has stated that that lack of democratic accountability of the President of the European Council as proposed by the Treaty of Lisbon was one of the main concerns of the Irish people.

So while the means to the end – the Treaty of Lisbon – may be on ice for now, the very idea of One President of the EU is more valid than ever. So in some shape or form whodoicall.eu will continue – I look forward to your comments about how that may be so.

Néerlandais MPE Vert Kathalijne Buitenweg écrit un blog sur whodoicall.eu (en néerlandais uniquement) et à partir de ce lieu étrange machine de traduction, il est clair que Buitenweg d’accord avec bon nombre des points que nous soulevons ici à whodoicall.eu

Pourquoi l’UE ont deux présidents? Que personne ne comprend. Le risque est remarquable que les deux titulaires de fonctions dans des uns et des autres eaux de s’asseoir, parce qu’ils sont à la fois comme président de l’Europe.

Plutôt étrange traduction du néerlandais en disant “de deux ambtsdragers dans elkaars vaarwater gaan zitten”, mais vous est venue l’idée.

Richard Corbett a également lié ici de son blog, mais il n’indique pas explicitement qu’il soutient nos idées… Pourtant nous sommes très heureux pour un lien! Les deux députés sites ont également été ajouté à notre encadré liens.

Wallström faces 3 problems in her efforts to get a woman into one of the top three positions. First of all the list of possible candidates is not that long – most national governments, and especially those of the largest 4 Member States, remain dominated by men. Merkel is the main exception to this, but her government is not exactly bursting with other women. Secondly, the debate about the top jobs is being conducted between national capitals rather than in an open and frank manner – so whatever Wallström says I fear no-one is listening. Thirdly, Blair (and possibly also Juncker, Rasmussen and Ahern, and Barroso for the Commission) have actively been making signs that they are interested in the top positions. Wallström categorically rules herself out and there is no woman as yet making an effort to get news about their candidacy out in the open.

Polly Toynbee, writing in e!Sharp magazine [PDF], thinks Wallström herself should go for it…

Dutch Green MEP Kathalijne Buitenweg writes a detailed blog post about whodoicall.eu (in Dutch only) and from this rather strange machine translation it’s clear that Buitenweg agrees with many of the points we raise here at whodoicall.eu

Why does the EU have two presidents? That nobody understands. The risk is great that the two office-holders in each other’s waters sit down, because they are both as president of Europe.

Somewhat strange translation of the Dutch saying ‘de twee ambtsdragers in elkaars vaarwater gaan zitten’ but you get the idea.

Richard Corbett has also linked here from his blog, although he does not explicitly state that he backs our ideas… Still we’re very glad for a link! Both MEPs’ sites have also now been added to our sidebar links.

Now the eternal front-runner Juncker will finally get what he was going to get right from the start. What remains to be seen is, however, when he will take up his job. Will it alreay be in January or will it be postponed until after the EP elections and in parallel to the start of the new Commission in November 2009?

A number of influential MEPs have already suggested that just one member state might delay the formal ratification (e.g. the German president by postponing his signature) so that the new setting will only be effective for the second half of 2009.

The interesting line from Quatremer is: “Beaucoup d’États membres ne veulent pas d’une personnalité qui ferait de l’ombre au président de la Commission européenne” – precisely. That’s the core of our argument at whodoicall.

Quatremer is also known as a defender of the French language – we do have a French version of this website under construction!

IHT calls Jan and I ‘political bloggers’ – very true – while EU Referendum refers to us as experts that are quoted. We’ll take that as a compliment. Further I really hope that IHT did take what I said as objective analysis – they would have been foolish to do so. I gave my opinion as frankly as I could, but we’re running a campaign after all.

But aside from that, what are the challenges for the EU?

First of all as far as this website has been concerned, Bertie has been one of the favourites to take the job as President of the European Council from 2009. While the tribunal might taint his reputation to a certain extent, if he’s cleared then the way is open for a job in Brussels. I can’t work out the timetable for the work of the tribunal though – if investigations drag on then Bertie might lose his chance as the main negotiations for the top positions will take place in the second half of this year.

There’s also the rather large cloud on the horizon, namely the referendum in Ireland on the Treaty of Lisbon. Without a positive vote in Ireland then there won’t even be a position for Ahern to contest. My initial reaction was ‘oh, no, politicians will have their eye off the referendum’ but Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins reckons the opposite – quoted in theparliament.com he reckons the prospects for ratification are significantly enhanced. But Fine Gael is the main opposition to Ahern’s Fianna Fáil in Irish politics, so surely Higgins would say that, as Fine Gael has been calling for Ahern to go for a long time.

Therein is also a potential issue for Ahern and his candidacy - Fianna Fáil is part of the UEN group in the European Parliament, also containing parties such as Law and Justice of the Kaczyński brothers. Would Ahern be sure to get EPP backing if he were to run?