Miliband emerges as frontrunner for key EU role as Sarkozy sinks Blair's chances of President job

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 11:34 EST, 10 May 2010

• Blow to Blair as Sarkozy appears to pull backing
• Miliband: I don't want EU high representative job
• Final Lisbon Treaty hurdle cleared on Czech opt out
  

Foreign Secretary David Miliband has emerged as the frontrunner to become the EU's first 'foreign minister' as French President Nicolas Sarkozy killed off Tony Blair's remaining hopes of becoming EU President.

Influential European leaders described Mr Miliband as a 'strong candidate' for the role of EU High Representative for foreign and security policy.

Frontrunner: David Miliband with Gordon Brown in Brussels. Mr Miliband claims he is not available for the EU's new high representative job

But at the same time Mr Sarkozy, who had initially backed Mr Blair's undeclared candidacy, told journalists: 'The names that first come out of the hat, are not necessarily the ones that are finally chosen.'

This appeared to be a clear reference to Mr Blair, who was at first seen as the hot favourite to land the plum £275,000-a-year post.

Mr Sarkozy went on to reveal that France and Germany will effectively seal the deal, saying: 'With Chancellor Merkel, we completely agree that we are going to support the same candidate.'

Mrs Merkel has made it known she would prefer the EU's first permanent president to come from one of the EU's smaller states.

Mr Miliband yesterday insisted: 'I am not a candidate. I am not available.' 

Fading chances: Tony Blair looks even further from becoming EU President after French leader Nicolas Sarkozy (r) appeared to pull his support

If he gets the job, he would become the most senior Briton in the EU since Roy Jenkins served as president of the European Commission between 1977 and 1981.

A senior source close to Martin Schultz, powerful leader of the Party of European Socialists in the European Parliament, said: 'Miliband has a good reputation and his standing is good.'

And the influential French newspaper Le Monde described the 44-year-old as 'young and brilliant'.

EU leaders are said to have been impressed by Mr Miliband's pro-European speech to the International Institute for Strategic Studies last week.

Kiss of death for Blair? German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mr Sarkozy. He says they will back a joint candidate for the President job

Werner Faymann, Chancellor of Austria, told ITV News: 'If there is the idea of David Miliband being a candidate, I personally would support it.'

The new post is expected to be filled in the next month, if the Czech Republic ratifies the Lisbon treaty.

'Milibanana': The now-infamous picture of David Miliband holding a banana at Labour's party conference in 2008

The Czech Constitutional Court will meet next week to decide if it can accept the controversial document.

Czech president Vaclav Klaus is expected to ratify it once that decision is passed down, as long as it concludes there is no reason to block it.

Only when it is ratified will the post of President and the high representative be created and negotiations over who will take up the jobs become critical.

Gordon Brown, alongside Mr Miliband at a press conference in Brussels, declared that the EU has now 'cleared the way' the Treaty to be fully enforced.

'I believe that we have created the conditions in which the Czech government can ratify the Lisbon Treaty and that that treaty can come into force quickly,' he said.

The Prime Minister repeated his backing for Mr Blair yesterday, but acknowledged he could face fierce competition amid divisions in the EU over his candidacy.

He said: 'Britain has someone in Tony Blair who would make an excellent president of the Council of the European Union. I think there are many people who are members of the council who accept that and believe that to be true.

'I recognise also that there are many candidates who may come forward, some have already indicated their intention to do so, but I do believe that Tony Blair will remain an excellent candidate.'

He added that a special summit to decide who will take up the posts could be staged if ratification goes ahead before the end of the year. 

Mr Blair's audacious bid to become EU President appeared to be going smoothly until this week, when Labour's socialist allies refused to back him.

Mr Brown clashed angrily with other EU leaders, telling them to 'get real' and rally behind Mr Blair.

For years his most bitter rival, the Prime Minister effectively launched the former leader's campaign on the first day of the summit in Brussels.

He hailed him as a 'hard-headed champion of Europe' but well-placed diplomatic sources said France and Germany - who are seen as the kingmakers of the presidency - were 'going cold' on the idea' of having him in the new position.

A string of other EU leaders have also voiced grave doubts about the prospect of 'President Blair' taking to the world stage.

Several say his support for the Iraq war should disqualify him from contention, while others point to his failure to take Britain into the euro or the Schengen free travel zone.

Mr Blair has let it be known that he would accept the President role, which will be created by the Lisbon Treaty that Labour rammed through without a referendum, as long as it is 'big enough'.

The Daily Mail has learned that he has also begun to assemble a potential team who would serve with him in Brussels. 

Several former aides from his Downing Street days are understood to have been informally asked if they would return to work for Mr Blair in his all-powerful new role.

There is increasing speculation that Business Secretary Lord Mandelson might return to Brussels to act as Mr Blair's 'chef de Cabinet' if his bid is successful.

But last night there were indications that the hopes of Mr Blair - who has been nicknamed Boney Blair for his Napoleon Bonaparte-like ambitions - may come to naught.

The suggestion that he would accept the post only if it is big enough to 'stop the traffic' when his motorcade arrives in foreign capitals - made by Miliband at the weekend - appears to have caused particular irritation.

Within minutes of landing in Brussels for the meeting of EU chiefs, Mr Brown told socialist leaders that they had a 'unique' opportunity to appoint Mr Blair to the unelected post.

He told the leaders at a private meeting: 'Get real - this is a unique opportunity to get a strong progressive politician to be president.'

Later, Mr Brown told a press conference: 'We, the British Government, believe that Tony Blair would be an excellent candidate and an excellent person to hold the job of president of the council.'

Asked whether European divisions over Iraq would hurt Mr Blair's candidature, Mr Brown said while it had been 'very divisive' in the past, it was not the main issue in Europe today.

But there were extraordinary claims that Mr Brown and the leader of the socialist group in Brussels, Martin Schulz, had a furious 'shouting match' over Mr Blair's candidacy.

Mr Schulz said: 'The holder of the office must come from a country which embraces all the political institutions of the union, such as the Schengen agreement or the euro. Britain does not meet those criteria.'

Referring to the incident between Mr Brown and Mr Schultz, a British diplomatic source said: 'It was a challenging conversation.'

Jean Asselborn, deputy prime minister of Luxembourg, insisted there were 'better candidates than Tony Blair' after hearing Mr Brown's appeal for his candidacy.

He said: 'There will remain a link for the coming generation between Iraq, Bush and Tony Blair, so it's not easy.'

Country by country, what Europe thinks

Enlarge  

Leading German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung - a bellwether of opinion in Berlin - said Mr Blair's chances of becoming president were now 'approaching zero'.

Diplomatic sources confirmed that German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy were 'going off' the idea of appointing him.

Mrs Merkel, who has been subject to intense anti-Blair lobbying by the Tories, is said to be beginning to take on board the 'depth and breadth of the unpopularity of Blair in the UK'.

Spanish newspapers reported that prime minister Jose Zapetero, who was expected to back Mr Blair, has decided to support Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende.

European Liberal countries Denmark, Ireland and Finland also said they wanted a low-key 'chairman' of Europe rather than a publicity hungry global actor such as Mr Blair.

And Ireland, which had previously indicated that it would back Mr Blair, instead lent its weight to a bid for the job by former Irish PM John Bruton.

Other contenders include Jean-Claude Juncker, the veteran prime minister of Luxembourg; former Spanish PM Felipe Gonzalez; ex-Finnish prime minister Paavo Tapio Lipponen; Swedish premier Fredrik Reinfeldt; and former Irish PM Bertie Ahern.

In Britain, a poll showed growing opposition to a Blair presidency.

The PoliticsHome survey found 55 per cent of voters would rather see a foreigner win the post than Mr Blair, up from 47 per cent in June.

Only 29 per cent say they want Mr Blair to be installed in the new job. Opposition to the very idea of an EU president is also strong, with 57 per cent objecting.

Tories' referendum pledge on treaties

By James Chapman

David Cameron said he would adopt an EU policy based on 'realism'

The Tories are preparing to promise a 'referendum guarantee' on all future transfers of power to Brussels.

The move comes as the party is forced to alter its flagship policy on the controversial Lisbon Treaty.

David Cameron's pledge of a vote on the new EU blueprint is expected to expire as soon as next week, as hopes fade that the Czechs might halt its progress into law.

Senior Tories accept it would be futile to hold a referendum on a treaty that has already been ratified across the EU by the time they hope to win power next spring.

Mr Cameron said this week that he would adopt an EU policy based on 'realism not isolationism'.

He is under increasing pressure to explain what he would do if the Lisbon Treaty has been fully implemented by the time a Tory government comes to power.

His refusal to commit to a referendum on the Treaty if it has been ratified by the rest of the EU is likely to anger hard-line Eurosceptic MPs, who argue that a vote should be held even if it is retrospective.

Part of the attempt to reassure them will be an alternative guarantee to implement a new law forcing all future governments to put EU treaties to a popular vote.

Other moves are also in the pipeline.

The Tories accuse Gordon Brown of 'bare-faced' deceit in his refusal to give voters a say on the Lisbon Treaty, a revised version of the EU constitution on which Labour promised a referendum in its last election manifesto.

The treaty will create the first permanent EU president, an EU foreign minister, abolish Britain's right to veto EU proposals in more than 40 key areas, and for the first time allow further vetoes to be scrapped without further treaties or Parliamentary approval.

The next Tory government would seek to block the 'ratchet clause' allowing a further erosion of power by enshrining in law a guarantee binding future governments to hold votes on any new deal handing control to the EU.

The next Tory government will amend the 1972 European Communities Act, which first allowed EU law to be incorporated into the British legal system.

If a future government tries to transfer further competences from Britain to the EU, a national referendum before it could be ratified would be required by law. 

The Tories last night stepped up pressure on Foreign Secretary David Miliband to apologise for his attacks on the Right-wing Polish leader of the group the Conservatives have joined in the European parliament.

Mr Miliband has accused Michal Kaminski of having an antisemitic and neo-Nazi past.

The Foreign Secretary had quoted the Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich as attacking Mr Kaminski as an anti-Semite.

But the Rabbi said Kaminski was 'a strong friend' of Israel and added: 'It is a grotesque distortion that people are quoting me to prove that Kaminski is an anti-Semite.'

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