Vote Tony Blair, David Miliband tells European leaders

Published on Monday 26 October 2009 21:09

FOREIGN Secretary David Miliband has gone on the campaign trail for Tony Blair, "selling" the former prime minister's European credentials to fellow EU foreign ministers.

After emerging at the weekend as a standard bearer for Mr Blair's bid to become Europe's first president, Mr Miliband was in Luxembourg sounding out colleagues about his chances.

The new job, created under the Lisbon Treaty, will not exist until the Czech president signs the document. But momentum is building behind Mr Blair as the right man for the job once the treaty comes into force.

EU leaders attending a summit in Brussels later this week are likely to discuss the plan behind the scenes, even though the issue of the presidency is not on the formal agenda.

And yesterday, at a pre-summit meeting of foreign ministers, Mr Miliband insisted that a powerful Europe on the world stage needed a powerful figure to represent it.

Not every government is yet convinced, with some smaller countries voicing concern about the prospect of a British figurehead representing the EU.

But Mr Miliband said it was not a question of big member states against smaller member states – it was simply a question of what kind of Europe everybody wanted.

"Unless Europe gets its act together, policymakers in Washington, Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, Moscow and Beijing and elsewhere are going to conclude that Europe is not ready to be the partner they want," he said.

"Europe needs a strong voice, and member states have to ask themselves if they want a powerful or a weak Europe. If they want to establish a strong European voice on the world stage, then the question becomes, who are the candidates? It would be good for Britain, and for Europe, if Mr Blair was that man."

And Mr Miliband insisted it was in British interests that the former PM got the job.

"The idea that Britain can be powerful in the world without being powerful in Europe is a joke," he said. "I want people around the world to listen to our ideas and to see that Britain is strong in Europe."

Mr Blair's credentials as an internationally recognised political face have not been questioned. But some governments doubt the wisdom of giving such a role to the former prime minister of a country that is not part of the single currency, has not joined the Schengen open borders system and has a long history of Euroscepticism.

There are also Mr Blair's controversial political decisions – not least joining the US in the Iraq war, against the wishes of many European leaders. But Mr Miliband countered: "This job is about what this person can do for Europe in the future."

And he said the fact that his Tory shadow, William Hague, was opposing Mr Blair's candidacy was viewed with puzzlement across the world.

Mr Miliband said: "I think it is extraordinary that something which has obvious national benefits … should become part of the Tories' anti-Europe campaign. This is rightly viewed with amusement and derision around Europe."