So today we finally see the first elected President of Europe. A leader who will have a huge £45 billion pound budget at their disposal. The power to wield laws across Europe that every country signed up to the Lisbon Treaty will have to adhere to. A man who will be elected by the current European leaders. So far I hear it has been deadlock in the choice of President.
I just pray that it is not Tony Blair. Just the mere thought of the injustice of our own unelected Prime Minister voting for the very man he not only replaced but also detested makes my blood boil. Gordon Brown is a dead man walking. Was signing the Lisbon Treaty his own way of sticking two fingers up at the British people?
So with no agreement on a candidate, the EU’s 27 heads of government will arrive in Brussels this afternoon for a special summit called to select a president and foreign minister.
Despite weeks of intensive behind the scenes negotiations brokered by the Swedish president Fredrik Reinfeldt the leaders are no closer to deciding who should take the new posts.
A frustrated Mr Reinfeldt said tonight’s dinner in Brussels, which was meant to be a rubber-stamping exercise, ‘might take all night’.
Diplomats have warned the meeting could even run into the weekend or have to be reconvened next month. For me that is a month too long. If we have signed up for this treaty then we have to get a President sworn in as soon as possible. Maybe it will be former Latvian president Vaira Vike-Freiberga who is aiming to become President.
She called on the EU to ‘stop working like the former Soviet Union’ and said a woman should get one of the key posts.
Some diplomats believe the lack of a preferred candidate means it is still possible that Tony Blair might get the £270,000-a-year job, despite earlier suggestions that his bid is fading.
Downing Street yesterday said that Gordon Brown remained ‘full square’ behind the former PM’s bid.
Reinhard Bettzuege, German ambassador in Brussels, let slip yesterday that Chancellor Angela Merkel is backing the Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy for the presidency.
Mrs Merkel is said not to be a fan of Mr Blair, reportedly commenting that she didn’t like the idea of ‘having to listen to Mr Flash all the time’.
Mr Van Rompuy, 62, is the frontrunner but has been unable to cement his position.
Britain has signaled its opposition to Mr Van Rompuy, who supports the introduction of new EU taxes.
There are still no official candidates, and yet more than half a dozen politicians are said to be in the running.
Mr Van Rompuy may reign victorious simply by virtue of being the least offensive candidate.
Mr Blair is the best known of the candidates and was the early favorite.
Either way the thing that I feel shocks me the most is that the UK public are so unaware of this very vote. Amidst the tedious X-Factor and I’m A Celebrity this news has been put so far back in the pecking order it’s not even amusing. It appears that Katie Price (Jordan) breast or Jedward are far more important topical discussions than who is about to be elected the most powerful person in Europe.
That is the thing that worries me about most people in the UK, they are being brainwashed by boring reality TV shows and simply not taking enough interest in the very issues that will affect their daily lives.
Wake up people.
(Extract from The Daily Mail)