With the Swedish EU Presidency beginning, and most diplomats mildly optimistic that the Lisbon treaty will be approved by the Irish in a new referendum, European leaders have turned their attention to filling Europe’s top jobs.
But Tony Blair, who looked a shoo-in for the post of President of the European Council (not quite the “President of the EU”), now looks as if he has been dropped. Blair’s main backer, Nicolas Sarkozy, is said to have gone off the idea of bringing his British friend back from the political cold; while Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, was never keen.
Four candidates have emerged in his stead: Luxembourg’s long-serving leader Jean-Claude Juncker, Austria’s former Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, ex-Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt and former Spanish leader Felipe Gonzales. Of the four, the right-wing Schüssel is the least federalist and has voiced strong opposition to Turkish EU membership, a view that will endear him to President Sarkozy.
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