Jean-Pierre Jouyet says no to Tony Blair
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We could almost see him on top of the European Union: Tony Blair, potential candidate to the very first position of president of the EU. Even though Nicolas Sarkozy seemed to cherish that idea, it is not the case of his Minister of State responsible for European Affairs.
He is young, he has a beautiful smile and a resume that would make any politicians green with envy and he is in deed more Europhile than his nationality would allow us to guess: Tony Blair, former British prime minister is among the favorites to obtain a highly symbolic position created by the Treaty of Lisbon and become the first President of the EU.
Punchbag
In a statement made on February 11th, the minister of state responsible for European affairs drew a portrait of the perfect president of the EU. According to him, he must have a sense of leadership and show quite a strong charisma. So far, Tony Blair is still in the running.
He then added that this person will have to be genuinely European (what this means exactly still has to be defined) and will have to be able to understand “the sensitivity, the history and the mechanisms” of Europe. How about giving the job to a Master a Master student in European Affairs?
But Pierre Jouyet dealt Tony Blair a major blow and finished him off when he added that this person will have to belong to the “hardcore solidarities existing within Europe: these solidarities being the Euro Zone and the Schengen area”. To make it short: goodbye to any servants of his gracious Majesty… and in order for the killing of Tony Blair to be perfect, he pointed out that “the ones who starts too early are in the end never elected”.
One more disagreement
With this clear-cut position Jean Pierre Joyet might face once again his boss’ opposition since Nicolas Sarkozy proved to be in favor of Tony Blair. It is not the first time the two men disagree. Remember that Nicolas Sarkozy does not want Turkey to enter the EU when his state secretary would not be opposed to it…
Such a situation will just help smoothing the management of the European Affairs within the French Governement…
It is the so-called Entente Cordiale, isn’t it?