EU snub for Blair is bad news for Ireland
Friday November 20 2009
What an anti-climax. Ever since Ireland passed the Lisbon Treaty at the second time of asking, speculation has raged over who would become the first President of Europe -- a job that in theory makes that person the most powerful politician on the planet after Barack Obama.
Now, instead of choosing a heavyweight figure like Tony Blair who can hold his own on the world stage, the EU have played safe by appointing a poetry-writing Belgian prime minister who's barely even a household name in his own household.
Herman Van Rompuy might have a funny surname, but that's possibly the most interesting thing about him.
He's a low-key, softly spoken character whose only real quirk is his passion for publishing haikus (a form of Japanese poetry) in a daily newspaper.
The main reason for his selection is that he can be guaranteed not to overshadow Nicolas Sarkozy or Angela Merkel, the French and German leaders who effectively made this decision between them.
Van Rompuy looks like a superstar, however, when compared to the woman who's been given the other plum job of EU foreign secretary. Baroness Cathy Ashton is a British Labour peer who's never won an election in her life and could walk down any European high street without fear of being recognised.
Like her new boss, her main qualification is that she offends nobody and won't get any big ideas that might offend the union's largest countries.
From an Irish point of view, these appointments are not exactly inspiring. Although Brian Cowen was officially backing his predecessor John Bruton for the role of president, that was always a bit of a long shot. A more realistic hope was that EU leaders would take a deep breath and select Tony Blair -- a man who, whatever his mistakes over the Iraq war, has a deep understanding of Ireland and could be guaranteed to look out for our interests.
During the Lisbon Treaty debate, we were assured that the new president and foreign minister would be symbols of a more visible, democratic and globally effective EU. Let's hope that's the only promise that gets broken.
- ANDREW LYNCH
