Sound The Trumpet : Euro Star: Could Tony Blair Become the First EU President?

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“Euro Star: Could Tony Blair Become the First EU President?”
by The Independent
September 28th, 2009

Since 2007, he has quietly built a new role as Middle East envoy. But our former prime minister has set his sights on being the first EU president. Could it happen? Donald Macintyre joins him in Jerusalem to find out.

In blue suit, crisp white shirt, the hair – matching his tie – a little greyer now, the right arm outstretched to make sure he understands exactly where the old road crossed the border, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is standing on the edge of a bleak tract of waste land in south-western Qalqilya. It is overlooked by the forbidding eight-metre slabs of concrete wall, a few defiantly decorated with murals of the black, green, white and red Palestinian flag, that unbreachably divides the town from Israel. Beside him, Qalqilya's Fatah governor Rabeeh Khandaqji is explaining how the road we are on – now, thanks to the barrier, a dead end – was once among the busiest in the West Bank, connecting the town to the Israeli workplaces of almost 80 per cent of its labour force. The international community's Middle East envoy tells the Governor he noticed the boarded-up shops as his convoy made its way towards the wall, and listens carefully as he is told they are among 450 businesses which have closed in his town in the past decade. "We hope Mr Blair is going to help us in Qalqilya," Mr Khandaqji explains, "in the same way that he has helped Nablus and Jenin."

The Governor's remark is made to a mere handful of mainly local Palestinian journalists covering the envoy's visit, underlining how far Blair has been from the international spotlight in recent months. That is almost certainly about to change. For if the Irish public vote "yes" in their second referendum on the Lisbon EU Treaty on 2 October then the debate will start in earnest about who can best fill the big brand-new job of full-time EU president the treaty will create. The Irish referendum is not the only hurdle left for the Treaty to clear since the fiercely-eurosceptic Czech President Václav Klaus is still trying to delay his country's ratification. But an Irish vote in favour of Lisbon will be enough to trigger a wave of speculation on who will emerge in what could be the role of "Mr Europe" over the next five years. And without even uttering a word to say he wants the job, Mr Blair is already being discussed in Brussels and across the capitals of the 27 member states as the biggest figure among the potential candidates. If all goes to plan, a decision could be taken at next month's EU summit. It's just possible that, however disappointingly for Mr Khandaqji, Blair will no longer be available, at least in his present post, to try and secure Qalqilya the better economic deal it badly needs.

The words the Governor uses to underline the importance he clearly attaches to the envoy's visit are nevertheless instructive. For the first time since Blair was appointed the international Quartet's representative in June 2007, West Bank Palestinians are beginning to see some change – albeit severely limited – for the better; checkpoints have been eased round Nablus and between it and Jenin. Nowhere is cause and effect cloudier than in the Middle East, and Blair is careful to tell the reporters in Qalqilya today that a major reason for the easing of conditions is that "the Obama administration

has been fully behind it", many critics argue that Benjamin Netanyahu's government is doing this as a substitute for rather than a complement to the real political progress that diplomats – including Mr Blair – repeatedly point out is essential for a lasting improvement to day to day life for Palestinians.

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13